
("Inss ,C ^^ , 
book , ^ -^ 



f. Dm. I0i6 640, Congrtu. la Stuhn 



HOMESTEAD OF 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



SPEECHES 

IN THE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 5, 12, 1916 

ON A BILL TO ACCEPT A DEED OF CONVEYANCE 
FROM THE LINCOLN FARM ASSOCIATION TO 
THE UNITED STATES OF THE HOME- 
STEAD OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, NEAR 
THE TOWN OF HODGENVILLE, 
STATE OF KENTUCKY 




WASHINGTON 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
•=**■ 1916 



H. Doc /f 56 Mh Gmrrea. la Satim 



HOMESTEAD OF 
ABRAEL\M LINCOLN 



SPEECHES 

IS THE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

.APRIL 5, 12, 1916 



OX A BILL TO ACCEPT A DEED OF COMTV.^NCE 
FROM THE LLNCOLN FARM ASSOCLATIOX TO 
THE L'NITED STATES OF THE HOME- 
STEAD OF ABRAHAM LEN'OOLN, NEAR 
THE TO^^Ts' OF HODGE^■^^LLE, 
STATE OF KENTUCKY 





WASHINGTOX 

GOVERNMENT PRENTTSG OFFICE 

1916 



32 



.U 



(II K<-. !•>>. Sixty-louitli Omcrt-ss, fift s«-ssion.) 

CoNUKiJss OK Tin; IIniti;u Status, 

Hoi'SIJ OP RliPKKSUNTATlVKS, 

Af'fil 12, igi6. 
A'lio/jv./. Tli.it the s|)ccclics delivered on H. R. S351 and the bill in 
relatiiin thereto, accepting from the Lincoln Farm Association title of 
the f.irni on which Aukaiiam Lincoln w:ls lioni, he printed iis a House 
d'icununt, ten thuus.ind copies to be distriliuted anionj; the Members 
iiliially throui;h the folding room. 



Attest: 



South Tkimhi.i;, 

Clerk. 



D. of D. 
MAY 21 1916 



-<, 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Resolution of authority to print 2 

Act (H. R. 8351) accepting deed of conveyance 5 

Preliminary proceedings in the House 7 

Reniiu-ks by- 
Mr. McKinley, of Illinois 11 

Mr. Fcss, of Ohio i5» 75 

Mr. Clark, of Florida 19 

Mr. Eagle, of Texas 21 

Mr. Rainey , of Illinois 25, 89 

Mr. Crisp, of Georgia 29 

Mr. Foster, of Illinois ^^ 

Mr. Cannon, of Illinois 39 

Mr. Sherwood, of Ohio 55 

Mr. Smith, of Minnesota 61 

Mr. Hicks, of New York 65 

Mr. Russell, of Missouri 69 

Mr. vSloan, of Nebraska 71 

Mr. Switzer, of Ohio 77 

Mr. Dale, of Vermont 79 

Mr. Barkley, of Kentucky 83 

Mr. Madden, of Illinois 97 

Mr. Harrison, of Mississippi 107 



^eesrl H. R. 8351 



ist session. [ 



AN ACT 

To accept a deed of gift or conveyance from the Lincoln Farm Association, 
a corporation, to the United States of America, of land near the town of 
Hodgenville, county of Larue, State of Kentucky, embracing the home- 
stead of Abraham Lincoln and the log cabin in which he was bom, 
together with the memorial hall inclosing the same; and further, to 
accept an assignment or transfer of an endowment fund of $50,000 in 
relation thereto. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House 0} Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That the United 
States of America hereby accepts title to the lands mentioned 
in the deed of gift or conveyance now in possession of the 
President of the United States of America, together with all the 
buildings and appurtenances thereon, especially the log cabin 
in which Abraham Lincoln was born and the memorial hall 
inclosing the same, which deed or conveyance was executed on 
the day of , nineteen hundred and thirteen, by 

the Lincoln Farm Association, a corporation, to the United 
States of America, describing certain lands situated near the 
town of Hodgenville, county of Larue, State of Kentucky, 
which lands are more particularly identified and described in 
said deed or conveyance. The title to such lands, buildings, 
and appurtenances is accepted upon the terms and conditions 
stated in said deed or conveyance, namely: That the land 
therein described, together with the buildings and appurte- 
nances thereon, shall be forever dedicated to the purposes of a 
national park or reservation, the United States of America 
agreeing to protect and preserve the said lands, buildings, and 
appurtenances, and especially the log cabin in which Abraham 
Lincoln was born and the memorial hall inclosing the same, 
from spoliation, destruction, and further disintegration, to thp 
end that they may be preserved for all time, so far as may be; 
and further agreeing that there shall never be any charge or 
fee made to or asked from the public for admission to the said 
park or reservation. 



II ni c s t c (1 (I f .7 h r a h a m T.i ii c o I ;/ 

Skc. 2. Tluit till- Unilctl Stales of America hereby also accepts 
lillc to tlu- iiulowiiuiit fmul of $s<>,f>t>o imntioiuil in Ihc assij^n- 
iiunt uiul lr;m>fiT, now in tlu* ]K)ssession of the Presitlent of 
the Unititl States of America, wliali assij;iunent and transfer 
was iMvtiltil on the day of , nineteen hnndrcd 

and thirtiin. by the I.incohi l-'arni Association, a corporation, to 
tlic United States of America, transferring and tnrning over all 
its ri>;ht, title, and interest in and to said endowment fnnd, here- 
tofore invi^sted in certain stocks, bonds, and secnrities held and 
owne<l by the Lincoln I'arm Association, and more ])articnlarly 
identified and descriln-d in s:iid assignment and transfer. The 
title to s;ii«l enilownunl fmul is luxepted npon the terms and 
conditions statetl in s;iid assignment and transfer, namely, that 
the I'nited States of Anurica shall forever keej) the said tract 
of huul desc-rilK'd in sai<l deed, together with the l)uildings and 
appnrteiiaiu'es therennto belonging, dedicated to the pnrpose 
of a national park or reservation, and that there shall never be 
any charge or fee made to or asked from the pnblic for admis- 
sion to the s;iid park or reservation; and furllur, shall forever 
protect, presi-rve, aiul maintain said land, Iniildings, and appnr- 
lenances, and es|H-(.iall\- tin- log cabin in which Aiikaiiam Lin- 
coln was lM>rn and the nu-morial hall inclosing the sanu', from 
sjKiliation, destrnclion, aiul fnrllu-r disinii-gralion, to the end 
that they may l)C preserved for all tinu', as far as mav be, as a 
national park or reservatioti. 

Si:c. 3. That the l'resi(l«iil of the United Stales of Anu'rica 
and the Sicretary of War are hereby anthorized (o execnte, in 
the name of the United States of America, snch instrnment or 
instniuients as may Ik; or may become necessary to comply 
with or carry ont the terms and conditions of siu'h gift or gifts 
and to secnre the fnll benefit therefrom. 

Si:c. 4. Tliat uiMni the passage of this ait ami the vesting of 
the title to the projKrly ;uvepted theremuler in the United 
Slales, it shall be under the control of llu" Secretary of War 
and administered nnder such regulations not incoiisisteiit with 
law as he may from time to time prescriln'. 

Passed the House of RepicMntalivcs April u, i<>U). 

Attc-st: 

South f kimim.i;, 

CUrk. 



HOMESTEAD OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



SPEECHES IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 5 AND 12, 1916, ON 
BILL TO ACCEPT DEED OF CONVEYANCE FROM LINCOLN FARM ASSOQATION 
TO THE UNITED STATES. 

The SpUakdr. The Clerk will call llie committees. 

Mr. Clark of Florida (when the Committee on the Library 
was called). Mr. Speaker 

The Speaker. Is the gentleman making a report from the 
Committee on the I^ibrary? 

Mr. Clark of Florida. Yes, sir; I desire to call up the bill 
11. R. 8351. 

The Speaker. The Clerk will report the bill by title. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

A bill (H. R. 8351) to accept a deed of gift or conveyance from the Lincoln 
Farm Association, a corporation, to the United vStates of America of land 
near the town of Hodgenville, county of Lame, State of Kentucky, embrac- 
ing the homestead of Adraiiam Lincoln and the log cabin in v.hicli he 
was born, together with the memorial hall inclosing the same; and, further, 
to accept an assignment or transfer of an endowment fund of $50,000 in 
relation thereto. 

The vSpEaker. The House will automatically resolve itself 
into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the 
Union. 

Accordingly the House resolved itself into the Committee of 
the Whole House on the state of the Union for the consideration 
of the bill H. R. 835 1 , a bill to accept a deed of gift to homestead 
of Abraham Lincoln, with Mr. Earnhardt in the chair. 

Mr. Clark of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous con- 
sent that the first reading of the bill be dispensed with. 

Mr. Cannon. I think, Mr. Chairman, that the bill had better 
be read. 

The Chairman. Does the gentleman object? 



H ni c s t c a d of A h r a h a ni Lin col n 

Mr. Cannon. I do, 1 tliiiik it should ho nad. 
The Cii.\lR.M.AN. The Clerk will report the bill. 
The Clerk read as follows: 

Be it enacUd, etc.. That the I'nitcd States of America hereby accepts 
title to the lands mentioned in the deed of gift or conveyance now in pos- 
session of the Tresitient of the I'nited States of AiiK-rica, together witli 
all the liuildings and appurtenances thereon, esjjecially the log cabin in 
which Ahk.\ii.\m I,incoi..s' \v:is U>rn and the memorial hall inclosing the 

same, which deed or conveyance wiis executed on the - tlay of , 1913, 

by the Lincoln Tarm AssiKiation, a corjjoration, to the I'nitcd States of 
America, describing certain lands situated near the town of Hotlgenville, 
county of L;irue, State of Kentucky, \Nhich lands ;ire more juirticularly 
identified and described in s;iid deed or conveyance. The title to such 
lands, buildings, and appurtenances is accepted uf)on the terms and con- 
ditions stated in s;iid deed or conveyance, namely, that the land therein 
descrilx-d, together with the buildings and appurtenances thereon, shall 
be forever dedicated to the purix)ses of a national p.irk or reservation, the 
United States of America agreeing to protect and i)reser\e the s;iid hinds, 
buildings, and appurtenances, and especially the log cabin in which AiiR.\- 
iiAM Li.ncdU.N Wiis lx)ni and the memorial hall inclosing the same, from 
sjKjliation, destruction, and further disintegratirm, to the end that they 
may be prescr\'ed for all time, so far as may be; and furtlier agreeing that 
there shall never be any charge or fee made to or asked from the j)ublic for 
admission to the said piu-k or reservation. 

Skc. 2. That the Ignited States of America hereby also acce])ts title to 
the endowment fund of $50,000 mentiimed in the assignment and transfer, 
now in the jxissession of the President of the United States of America, 

which assignment and transfer were executed on the — day of , iqij, 

by the Lincoln Farm Asinxriation, a corporation, to the I'nited States of 
America, transferring and turning over all its right, title, and interest in 
and to s:iid entlownient funtl, heretofore invested in certain stocks, Ijonds, 
and securities held and owiied by the Lincoln Farm Association, and more 
particularly identified and described in s;ud assignment imd transfer. The 
title to s;iid endowment fund is acccjjted ujx^n the terms imd conditions 
stated in said assignment and transfer, namely, that the I'nited States of 
America .shall forever keep the said tract of land described in s;iid deed, 
together with the buildings and apj)urtenances thereunto belonging, dedi- 
cated to the purjMJSe of a national j>ark or reservation, and that there shall 
never be any charge or fee made to or asked from the pulilic for adniissitm 
to the said p;ak or reservation; and, further, shall forever protect, preserve, 
and maintain s;iid land, buildings, and appurtenances, and esiiecially the 
log cabin in which Aiiraiiau Lincoln was Iwni and the memorial hall 
inclosing the same, fn»m Sfxtliation, destniclicm, and further (Hsintegrati<m, 
to the end that they may be preserved for all lime, as far as may be, as a 
national park or reservation. 



Homestead o f Ahr ah am Lincoln 

Sec. 3. That the President of the United States of America and the 
Secretary of State are hereby authorized to execute, in the name of the 
United States of America, such instrument or instruments as may be or 
may become necessary to comply with or carry out the terms and con- 
ditions of such gift or gifts and to secure the full benefit therefrom. 

Mr. Clark of Florida. Mr. Chairinan, I desire to yield to the 
gentleman from Illinois [Mr. IMcKinley] such time as he may 
desire. 

The CnAiRi\i.\N. The gentleman from Illinois [Mr. McKinlcy] 
is recognized. 



REMARKS BY MR. McKINLEY, OF ILLINOIS 

Mr. Chairman, some 8 or lo years ago a number of citizens of 
Kentucky and others scattered over the United States formed 
an association for the purchase of the farm and log cabin in 
which AuKAiiAM Lincoln was born, located 2^ miles from 
Hodgenville, Ky. 

Mr. Chairman, the report of the connuittce covers the matter 
very fully, and I will ask that the Clerk read the report. 

The Chairman. The Clerk will read the report. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

[House of Representatives, Report No, 2:?i, Sixty-fouitli CuiiKrcss, first session.] 
TO ACCUPT DEED OF GIFT TO HOMItSTljAIJ l)F ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Mr. McKuiIey, from the Cotnniittee on the Library , submitted the follow- 
ing report, to accompany House bill 8351: 

The Committee on the Libniry, to whom was referred House bill 8351, 
having considered the same, now reports it back to the House with the 
recommendation that it do pass. 

The purpose of the bill is to authorize the United vStates to accept as a 
gift not only the cabin in which Abraham Lincoln was tram, but, in 
addition thereto, the farm upon which he was bom; and, also, an endo^v- 
ment ftmd made up as follows: $44,000 (par value) city of Louisville, Ky., 
43^ per cent bonds, due in 1951; $2,000 (par value) city of Ixjuisville, Ky., 
3 per cent bonds. 

The present market value of these bonds is nearly $50,000. 

A magnificent marble memorial hall has been erected and incloses the 
cabin which stands near the spring, where it stood when Ijncoi.n was 
born. 

On the farm is a substantial residence and other buildings, occupied 
by the superintendent of the farm. The farm comprises about 137 acres. 

Those who have saved the homestead of Lincoln from the ownership 
of those who might liave exploited it for commercial ])urposes have also 
saved the log cabin in which he was born, and have inclosed it in the 
Memorial Hall, which will forever preserve it from decay. They have 
also cleared the farm of brush and undergrowth, have rebuilt boundary 
fences, have made a beautiful park immediately around Memorial Hall, 
and have endowed the farm with a fund sufficient to maintain it. Having 
done all this, they feel that they have fulfilled their undertaking, and now 
suggest that the Nation take it over as a gift, and see to it that Lincoln's 
birthplace is preserved for all future generations. 

Already thousands of people from all over the country visit the place 
every year. It is anticipated that future years will see this number be- 
come multiplied over and over. 



H ni c s 1 1 n (I of A b r a h a tu Lin coin 

1 hi iT"i>irt\ ii.is .III iiiumi"- i>l iiiorr than $j,ooo a \ i ar from the cndnw- 
mciit fund alunc itrnl is silf sustainiii);. 

The prist-iit holders nf the fee siiii|de title have executed a deed of con- 
vcvjincc, in fee. to the I'nitcil States, which is held by the President 
pending the |t.iss.iKe of this liill. 

The omunittce most i;u-iiestly reajnnncnds the j):iss;ij;e of this liill. 
In f.iil. it is hu|>ed that it may he unanimously adopted. 

Mr. ClKiiriiKm. it has always seemed to me almost a blessing 
that, because of the neecssilies tif I,i\C(»i,n'S i)areiits, so many 
of lis could have received inspiration and encouragenienl from 
a sort of ueighb«»rliness to the scenes of his early strnj^'j^les. I 
have always beiii glad and proud that 1 was boni within a mile 
of old S;deni, where young Aukaiiam Lincoln lived and worked 
and studie<l and love<l. He went to central Illinois at the age 
of 2\ without trade or profession, without money or influence, 
without a patron oi friend, and there began his real career — a 
career not ecjualed in all hislor\ . There he began his first 
prolilal)le work; there he began his political trend; there he 
l>egan his earnest stutly of law and history and statecraft and 
men; there he gave his first love and met his first great sorrow. 
When the young and gracious Ann Rullcdgc was taken by 
death, brought on by a shadow of a former love, Lincoln's 
great heart went out in his own sadness and loss, and no doubt 
the sweet nature of his life found its birth where, as he himself 
siiid, his heart was buried. But deep as was his grie^ he set out 
with an indomitable will to master every obstacle. 

History has recited the progress of our immortal statesman 
and you are all familiar with the names of his associates, 
McClernand, vStiiart, ILiy, Ninian and \Wn Ivdwards, Dr. Javne, 
Judge Logan, and others to whose talk I listened when a bov. 
I need not say that all this is the fondest memory of my life, 
and I allude to it as an illustration of the wealth of aspiration 
ever |)ossessed by the y<tutli of our land in the wonderful and 
mighty example gi\tn us by young Lincoln as he fought the 
battles of early manhood. In all history there is no j)arallel 
lo the greatness that came from such lowliness, save in the life 
of our Redeemer. No one could have had a more Imiiible 
birth than Lincoln; no one could have had a more obscure 
cliildlKMul; no one could have had such early struggles of body. 



Homestead of Abraham Lincoln 

mind, and soul as did the Lincoln who afterwards became 
one of the most ilhistrious characters of all the ages. 

Every monument and temple and highway dedicated to his 
name bears witness to his nature, his character, his courage, and 
his achievements. His life path, began in such simplicity, 
merged into a bravery that knew no disheartening and that 
carried him to sublime heights of glory. We do well, then, to 
continue to honor him and to keep fresh the memory of the 
various stages of his life's progress from birth to the grave. 

By industry and honesty, through hardship and suffering, in 
peace and in war, Abraham Lincoln made for himself and for 
us the most glorious pattern of all humanity. His birthplace 
will now, more than ever, become a mecca of American youth 
and their elders, and we can rejoice, indeed, that in the wisdom 
of Providence there has been giv'en us for example and recital 
such illustration of the possibilities of attainment from poverty 
and lowliness. With Lincoln as a guide there should be no fail- 
ure, no discouragement, no giving up of purpose and attempt. 
All can not reach the same heights, but all can, as Lincoln did, 
try for the best that opportunity, diligence, and undaunted zeal 
afford. He was given to us not only for the pciiormance of his 
tasks, not only for the results of his wondrous mind, but for the 
influence that must ever come from such an example of all that 
goes to make useful citizens, masterful men, and helpful com- 
rades. In every element that goes toward the molding of the 
highest and best characteristics that serve in the mightiest pur- 
poses of life, Lincoln will ever stand out clear and distinct, not 
only as a foremost American but as a leader of all humanity. 

Our eulogies and tributes, our memories and monuments, can 
never repay our debt to Abraham Lincoln. But they do and 
will ser\^e to keep first in the minds and hearts of our people his 
sweet and tender nature, his sturdy, rugged will, his persistent 
and successful struggles, and the splendid example to each and 
all of us who love to turn to his life work and learn a devotion to 
duty and right that can well be emulated by all. 

Mr. Clark of Florida. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio, 
Mr. Chairman, lo minutes. 

The Chairman. The gentleman from Ohio \}lr. Fess] is recog- 
nized for ID minutes. 



13 



^.trOD? V Uh 



REMARKS BY MR. FESS, OF OHIO 

Mr. Chairman, there is no sentiment that could stir the hearts 
of America more than a sentiment in honor of the memory of 
Abraham Lincoln, and I know of no occasion when that senti- 
ment expressed would be more appropriate than upon the oc- 
casion of the offer of this property as a gift to the National 
Government, to care for it. 

Some men place themselves in history by what they say, 
others by what they do, and still a few others by what they 
both say and do. I have thought that the author of "Sartor 
Resartus" never need to have done anything to have placed 
himself in history. The same might be said of the author of 
the "Pickwick Papers," or of the author of "JuHus Caesar," 
and the "Merchant of Venice." Then, on the other hand, a 
man who has accomplished what such men as Edison have done 
would never need to add to his accomplishments by anything 
that he might say, for he would be remembered, not by what 
he said, but by what he did. 

But in the case of Abraham Lincoln, he fixes his place in 
history by what he has said and also by what he has done. The 
man who said "A house divided against itself can not stand," 
probably said what would fix for him a permanent place in 
history; or "Broken by it I, too, may be, but bow to it I never 
will," that would also have given him a place in history; or when 
he said "Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this 
iiii^.-.j Tge of war may speedily pass away," or when he 

said "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with 
firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us go 
on with this work," he uttered statements that would perma- 
nently fix his place in history. These are but few of many that 
might be recalled, any one of which is significant in historical 
meaning. But when we add to those beautiful deliverances 
some things that he did, we have additional grounds for assign- 
ing him a great place in history. 

38796°— 16 2 15 



11 til (• y / 1" ti (I (I f .7 /' /■ ti fi (I ni I . i u c o I ii 

i.>ui Ca])iliil City 111 \\'a>luii;4l»)U will always be renK'inlKTL'd 
as the phuv of lils grealLSt utlcraiKvs and his grcalcsl deeds. 
The sixties will In- the time to which the historian will hark 
back f«ir Lincoln's achievenunts. History will ileal most 
witlely with him as the great I'resiilent, the war I'resident. 
I'lnKincip ition will be recorded as his greatest victory for human 
riglits. The prest-rwilion of the Union nuist be written down as 
his crowning gK)r)'. Hut we to-day will turn back in our mind, 
away from the Capitol at \\ashingt<jn, away from the sixties in 
time, away from ci\ ili/alion as we knew it in the city and in 
the oilier countries, to the rialin of the pioneer, to the State 
• •f Kuntucky, that hail oiil\ nei ntly been settled. We turn away 
from the time and place of his notable utterances and famous 
achievements to the then unknown western country. We will 
think not so much to-day of the distinguished citizen as of the 
babe in the Stale of Kentucky; not so much of the head of the 
grandest Republic on earth as of the child of the wilderness; 
not so nnich ol the famous emancipator as of the boy stricken 
with jKU'erty; not so nuich of the preserver of the Union as of 
the one with universal insi)iralion to every boy and girl of 
America. We are looking from here, the seat of power and the 
arena of influence, back to those days of sorrow and impotence; 
and if to-day we could transi)lant ourselves back in Kentucky 
to the year of 1809 and had the vision to peer into the future 
s<i as to see the road that he traveled, what a vision of oppor- 
tunitv would open to us. 

Mr. Chairman and fellow Members of the House, I lliiiik it 
is a beautiful occasion that while we are concerned about his 
achievements for humanity we here and now choose for a nio- 
ineiu to dwell upon those early days, that we fix his beginning 
as well as emphasize his ending, and instead of thinking too 
fre(juently of the While House which he occupied, think more 
often of the log cabin in which he was born. It is the boyhood 
time rather than the manhood that ajipeals to us to-day. 

Here is a i)roi)osition that gives us the opportunity to dwell 
uix)n the childhood, upon the poverty-stricken family; it has to 
do with his birlhpUice, where he lived the first seven years of 
his life, the farm over which his jjareuts trod and on which 



16 



Homestead of Ah r ah a m L.i n col u 

they labored; and I know of no picture so touching as wlien the 
little faniil)^ of four left this home and started for the Ohio 
River, which they crossed and went beyond 17 miles, there, 
together — the father, the mother, the little brother, and the 
sister, two years his elder — built the little cal)in in the woods 
with their own hands, a cabin of but three sides, in which they 
dwelt that first year. This picture of privation loses its sting 
in the wonderful years of opporttmity soon to open to the boy 
of that small group. 

It is to those early days that our hearts naturally hark back 
at this time when there is here presented by our colleague, a 
distinguished son of Kentucky, the Representative of the dis- 
trict in which is located his birthplace, this opportunity to re- 
ceive this gift. As a Member of this Congress, I desire to offer 
my vote of congratulation and gratitude to the State that gave 
the Nation its IjncoIvN and which now proposes to donate to it 
his birthplace as a perpetual memorial to his memory. This 
contribution, not so much from the State as the people in the 
State, is by this proposed resolution the most recent effort to 
make it possible that the Nation itself might preserve the 
beginnings of the life of America's greatest citizen. 

I look upon him as the first, the last, the best, the greatest 
in comprehension, the broadest in statesmanship, the sweetest 
in disposition, and the deepest in humanity of all this western 
world. And while history will care for his memory, and while, 
in the words of Stanton, his great Secretary, "he now belongs 
to the ages," it is a beautiful thing for this Congress to do what 
will prevent our forgetting his beginnings. His ending in being 
a great statesman will always be commemorated. His career 
is secure. His achievements are common knc vledge. Their 
brilliancy nmst not blind us to the unpromising beginnings. 
This proposition will connect his greatness as he left us with 
the simple beginning of his life and will help to refresh the 
future generations with the inspiration of American oppor- 
tunity. For that reason I want to speak my favor of the 
reception of this gift by those whose hearts are filled with grati- 
tude toward the memory of this great man. [Prolonged 
applause.] 



17 



REMARKS BY MR. CLARK, OF FLORIDA 

Mr. Chairman, it was with a great deal of pleasure that I 
voted in the Committee on the Library to report this bill 
favorably to the Plouse, and I want to state that it was an 
absolutely unanimous report. 

We are now constructing within the city of Washington a 
great memorial to the memory of Mr. Lincoln. Out in Illinois — 
at Springfield, the capital of the State — stands a great monu- 
ment to his memory. It is proposed by this bill to preserve 
for future generations the place of his birth. The honor to be 
done this great man would not be complete, it seems to me, 
without some such action as this. I am glad that this bill is 
here, and trust that there will be an absolutely unanimous 
vote for it. I want to say that it augurs well for this great 
Republic that the man who introduced this bill, who has been 
furthering its progress before the committee and upon this 
floor [Mr. Johnson of Kentucky], is the son of the man who 
raised the first Confederate flag that fluttered in the breezes 
of Kentucky. [Applause.] This action bespeaks more emphat- 
ically and more strongly than any language could the fact 
that we are an absolutely united people, under one flag, with 
one country, and all of us loving to do honor to the memory 
of Abraham Lincoi^n. [Applause.] 

Mr. Chairman, I now yield lo minutes to the gentleman from 
Texas [Mr. Eagle]. [Applause.] 



19 



REMARKS BY MR. EAGLE, OF TEXAS 

Mr. Chairman, it will afford nie sincere pleasure to vote for 
this measure, by which the United States will accept a deed of 
gift for the land upon which and the humble log cabin in Ken- 
tucky in which Abraham Lincoln was born. 

All of my life I have lived in the far South. All of my life I 
have heard and shared those sentiments of tenderness, of devo- 
tion, and of reverence which all of rhy people feel for the heroes 
of the "Lost Cause." That sentiment which has more pro- 
foundly touched my spirituality, in pathos and in tenderness, 
than any other sentiment has been the beautiful devotion of 
the thinning ranks of the Confederate armies and of their fami- 
lies and descendants, for the memory of the time when they 
risked life, fortune, and everything that life holds dear, ex- 
cepting honor and their sense of duty for a cause that went 
down honorably in gloom and defeat upon the field of war. 
And yet throughout my blessed Southland everywhere, among 
the noble men and glorious women who make up that chivalric 
and beautiful civilization, never in my life have I heard any 
sentiment except one of admiration and sympathy for the mar- 
tyred Abraham Lincoln. [Applause.] 

It is a happy occasion of rejoicing that no longer, as in the 
days of our fathers, is there any estrangement or any bitter- 
ness. I rejoice with men in this Chamber from every section of 
this glorious Union that now there is peace not only in fact but 
mutual sympathy and fellowship as well, and that in the future 
there will be no patriotism limited alone to North or South or 
East or West, and that everywhere we feel the same connnon 
devotion to the same flag and the same aspiration for the glory 
of a common country. [Applause.] 

Many years after the Civil War, when Jefferson Davis had 
been denied citizenship because as President of the fallen Con- 
federacy he had been but the spokesman and chosen leader for 
many millions of people, when he had never once opened his 



H ni c s t c a d a f rl h r n h a ni Lin col n 

mouih lu speak in public ami hatl ilurin^' the jo years after the 
war never once written or said pubUcly or privately one word 
of bitterness concerning that tragic time, a meeting was held 
in his honor in Jackson, Miss., where a veteran of the lost 
cause, ujKjn either side of the tottering, venerable, and beloved 
old man, helped him up the steps of the capitol in the midst 
of a throng of tens of thousands of men, women, and children 
who held his name in veneration. They said, "Mr. Davis, 
at least once before you pass away let your people hear your 
voice again." For once he broke his silence, and he said in sub- 
stance simply this: "My friends, I am legally an alien in the 
land of my birth, l)ul 1 thank C.od that I yet live in the affec- 
tionate hearts of my tlevoted countrymen." 

It was a scene the like of wliicli rarely has been witnessed 
ujxin this earth, where men and women and little children by the 
thousands wej)t as if their hearts would break. Throughout 
the years of his life after the war Jefferson Davis was every- 
where in the vSouth treated with veneration. When, in death, 
his body was conveyed to its fmal resting jilace in Richmond, 
the ])eople gathered along the route at the farms, villages, and 
cities, ami, without llags or cannon for salute, still paid him 
reverence with silent forms, bared heads, and eyes dinmied 
with tears. And when you men of the North come to realize 
that a people as tremendous in tluir emotional nature, as 
intensily convinced in their judgment as the southern j)eople 
in their mass were convinced that they were right, can yet with 
a loyallN' nndixided remain haj)])) and contented and patriotic 
citizens of a reunited country, contributing tlie best there is in 
tlu-m to a conunon cause, and can without di\ision ])ay affection 
and devotion and admiration and reverenci- to tlie nuu■t^"rl•d 
President, AiiR.\!i.\M LiNCui.N, who led the other side of that 
controversy, you anil your people should always have respect 
and affection for our glorious southern ])eoj)!i- and civilization. 
[.\pplause.] 

1 believe that in'all history the two lives which, written upon 
papi-r or recited as tradition, excite the most interest are 
Nai)olt(tn rionai)arte and AiiK.\n.\M T.i.ncoi.n. Since I was a 
little lx>y, born and reared o\er in the backwoods of Kentucky, 



aa 



Homestead of A b 7^ ah am Liu c I 



n 



and since as a young man of 17 I moved out to Texas, there has 
never been a time when the life and the story and the tragedy, 
the pathos and the humor of Auraham Lincoln have not 
fascinated me. [Applause.] As the years come and go, and 
more and more clearly men are able properly to estimate his 
mind and character, the name and fame of Ahrmi.am Lincoln 
will be more and more secure in that sacred hall of world fame 
where only the towering figures of history dwell. [Applause.] 
And in the Nation he helped so largely to preserve, now the 
blessed heritage of ourselves and our children and our children's 
childien, his great spirit will always live as an inspiration to 
guide its life toward that noble destiny of freedom and happiness 
which was the dream of our fathers when they set it upon its 
noble career. [Long-continued applause.] 

Mr. Clark of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 10 minutes to 
the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Rainey]. 



REMARKS BY MR. RAINEY, OF ILLINOIS 

jNIr. Chairman, I am glad to have the opportunity to vote for 
this bill. It is appropriate that the birthplace of Arr.miam 
Lincoln in a Southern State shall be preserved by the National 
Government for all time to come. The long journey the boy 
Lincoln undertook when he left this Kentucky farm ended 
finally at the village of New Salem, 111., in the congressional dis- 
trict I have the honor now to represent. To the boy Lincoln 
and to those who surrounded him and influenced his earlv career 
there came in the lieginning of the last century the call which 
came to the South and to the East alike, the call of the West. 

To the West, to the West, to the land of the free, 
Wlierc the p;reat Mississippi rolls down to the sea, 
Where a man is a man if he is willing to toil, 
And the humblest may share in the fruits of the soil. 

Following this call of the West, Lincoln finally, after years 
of travel, in the early part of the year 1S30 reached the frontier 
village of New Salem, on the vSangamon River, and he spent 
there the formative years of his life. The village disappeared 
long ago, but some time I hope to see established on the beautiful 
bluff along the river, where New Salem stood, another national 
park, and I hope to see a real Lincoln highway following the 
route he took, connecting the place of his birth, in the State of 
Kentucky, with the spot where he spent the formative years of 
his life, in the State of Illinois, and where his great career com- 
menced. 

At the time the call of the West came to the boy Lincoln the 
call of the West reached another boy living imder the shadow 
of the spire of the village church in the village of Brandon, Vt., 
and a little while later Douglas started for the Illinois country. 
He came down the rivers and canals in flat boats, through the 
long forest avenues in ox carts, pursuing the same method of 
travel that Lincoln pursued. And three years after the ar- 
rival of Lincoln at New Salem, Douglas reached the frontier 
village of Winchester, 20 miles awav in Illinois, also in the con- 



25 



Homestead o f A br ah am Lin co I n 

grcssimial clislricl that 1 liuvc the lionor to represent. And 
there, separated by 20 miles of woodland, these two young men 
S|K'nt the formative years of their lives. One of them, frail of 
stature, acted as auctioneer's clerk, lauj,'ht school, and studied 
law in the village of Winchester; the other, robust of body, 
clerked in a country store, conducted the villaj^'e post office, 
fought the Clarys Grove boys, and studied law at the same 
time in the village of New Salem. 

The strangely parallel career of these two young men com- 
menced at that time. Tliey were in the Legislature of Illinois 
at the same time. They were admitted to practice law at the 
same time. Lincoln's law jiartner was a candidate against 
Douglas for Congress. Lincoln would have been the candidate 
were it not for this fact. Both served in Congress at the same 
time, Lincoln following Douglas to this lx)dy. Douglas was 
promoted to the Senate and accjuired an international reputa- 
tion. Lincoln served only one term, and, discouraged, returned 
again to jirivate life and to the practice of the law. He re- 
mained in the practice of the law until 1858, when the strangely 
parallel career of these two great leaders of men ct)mmenced 
again. 

They were botli opposing candidates for the United vStates 
Senate in the State of Illinois, representing dilTerent parties, and 
together canvassed the entire vState. Their debates will remain 
in the history of debates of this character famous as long as 
the Knglish language is spoken. Hut tlie result of that campaign 
was again discouraging to Llncoln. The great Douglas was 
triumphantly elected. 

Two years later they were opposing candidates for the Presi- 
dency. The result of that campaign left the towering form of 
Lincoln standing alone on the horizon. One, a cavalier of the 
Southland, became the leader of the party which was opposed to 
the South. The other, a Puritan of Puritans, became the leader 
of the party which found its greatest strength in the South. 
They were both loyal to the I'lnoii until the very last. One of 
them died just as the guns rang <nit along the longest battle line 
the world had ever known. The otlier died just at the close of 
tliat lung War la-tweeu the vStalcs. 



a6 



Homestead of Abraham Lin c o I 



n 



In the city of Springfield, 111., a granite column, the granite 
coming from the State where Douglas was bom, marks the spot 
where Lincoln lies. In the city of Chicago, where the waters 
of Lake IMichigan ripple on the shore, a white marble column 
marks the spot where Douglas lies. Some day we can honor 
Douglas in this country without detracting anything from the 
position Lincoln occupies and must always occupy. They will 
rank throughout time as two of our greatest citizens and states- 
men. [Applause.] 

Mr. Clark of Florida. I yield to the gentleman from Georgia 
[Mr. Crisp]. 



27 



REMARKS BY MR. CRISP, OF GEORGIA 

Mr. Chairman, as a southern man and the son of a soutliern 
soldier, I simply desire to avail myself of this opportunity to 
express my pleasure in having an opportunity to vote for this 
bill. The district I have the honor to represent lies away down 
South in Dixie, and I know my people entertain and cherish for 
President Lincoln the greatest admiration and kindest feeling. 
My father Avas himself a Confederate soldier, and he has said 
to me on many occasions that the worst thing that ever 
happened for the South was when President Lincoln was 
assassinated. 

Before the war Gen. Cobb, of Georgia, was at one time 
Speaker of this House, and he was also Secretary of the Treas- 
ury, lie was a general in the Confederate Army. He has a 
son, a probate judge, in my county, who was on his father's 
staff in the Confederate Army. I have in my office a short 
communication sent me by Judge Cobb eulogizing President 
Lincoln, the article also giving his father's views and opinion 
on the assassination of President Lincoln. I ask unanimous 
consent to extend my remarks in the Record by inserting the 
article. 

The Chairman. The gentleman from Georgia asks unani- 
mous consent to extend his remarks in the Record in the man- 
ner stated. Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

The article is as follows : 

Editor Times-Recorder: 

The coming of tlie governor, his staff, members of the Grand Army of 
the Republic, and other distiiiguished citizens of Illinois to unveil tlie 
monument to their soldier dead at Aiidersonville brings up memories of 
the past connected with a man from their State whom they loved and 
honored and are proud to claim as having come from Illinois; and it seems 
proper that these memories should be given some public expression at 
this time. 



29 



Homestead o f A h r a h a m Li n c o 1 n 

1 iiiVr ti> AnKAHAW Lincoln. Alllumgh he wore no handsome uniform 
with epaulets iuid gold braid, was he not a soldier i" He wiis Commander 
in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States. Forty-seven years 
aj;o, in April. 1805. uiy father, Maj. Gen. Howell Coljh, eonmiandcd the 
Confederate forees of the department f)f Georgia. 1 was a member of his 
military staff, and was standing near him one day when he received an 
oDic'ial telegram. When he read it his face turned as white as a sheet, 
and throwing up Inith han<ls he exclaimed, "My God! Lincoln has been 
iissassinated ; this is tlie greatest calamity that could have befallen our 
I>eoplc." How tnic were his words and prediction time has too fidly 
pn»ven . 

It is not surprising that the iLss;issination of Lincoln inflamed the north- 
em he;ut and created bitterness against the southeni people at that critical 
jKrriod, and gave the opjHjrtunily to the extreme fanatical element of the 
North to shape the policy of the G<jveniment in dealing with the Snithem 
States after the surrender of Lee's and Johnston's armies. And this brings 
us to consider what might have been. 

Abraham Lincoln was a great, good, and wise man, with a big, loving 
heart. He always held that tlic Southern States were never out of tlie 
I'nion. He had the love, confidence, mid respect of his people, and if 
he had lived his ]>olicies would have been carried out — a request from 
him to the Sfjutheni States to elect tlieir Senators and Representatives, 
send them to Washington, and again become a part of a reunited I'nion 
of sovereign and independent States. We would not have gone through 
the f;irce of reconstructing what he claimed had never been divided. 

We would not have had the numacling of Jeffers(m Davis, tliereby wring- 
ing tlie heart of a great and brave people by putting tliis humfliation on 
their chieftain, whom tlicy all loved, honored, and admired, when they 
were hcl[)less to protect or defend him. The S<juthcni people would not 
have liad to go through the trying, expensive, and humiliating times of 
so-called "reconstruction." The Frcedman's Bureau and its antitwin, 
the Ku Klux Clan, would never have been heard of, and the dove of peace 
with the olive branch of brotlicrly love nearly 50 years iifter would not 
still be hovering in midair, wjuiting to proclaim — what all g(Kid and tnie 
men in this entire Nation earnestly w ish and l)ray for — a united and loyal 
jicople, knowing no North, no Soui!i, no Iv;ist, no West. 

John Audison Ct)DU. 

The Sri:.\Ki:K. This is Calendar Wednesday, and the imfin- 
ished business is the hill (H. R. 8351) to accept a deed of gift or 
conveyance from the Lincoln Farm Association, a corporation, 
to the United States of America c)f land near the town of llodg- 
enville, county of I^rue, State of Kentucky, cjnbracing the 
homestead of Ai!K.\h.\m Li.n'COLN and the log caliin in which he 
was l)orn, together with the memorial h all inclosing the same 



30 



Homestead of Abraham Lincoln 

and further, to accept an assignment or transfer of an endow- 
ment fund of $50,000 in relation thereto. 

Mr. Clark of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous con- 
sent that in addition to the time allowed under the rule for gen- 
eral debate, one hour be added, one half to be controlled by the 
gentleman from Illinois [Mr. McKinley] and the other half by 
myself. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from Florida asks unanimous 
consent that the general debate on the bill H. R. 8351 be 
extended to three hours, one half to be controlled by himself and 
the other half by the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. McKinley]. 
Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

The Speaker. The House will automatically resolve itself 
into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the 
Union for the further consideration of the bill. 

Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of 
the Whole House on the state of the Union for the further consid- 
eration of the bill H. R. 8351, with Mr. Barnhart in the chair. 

Mr. Clark of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I believe when the 
committee rose on last Wednesday 1 had 15 minutes remaining? 

The Chairman. The gentleman had 18 minutes remaining. 

Mr. Clark of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield five minutes to 
the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Foster]. 



38790°— 10 3 31 



REMARKS BY MR. FOSTER, OF ILLINOIS 

^Ir. Chairman, I am very glad to support this bill, which 
provides for the acquiring by the Federal Government the birth- 
place of Abraham Lincoln. If this bill becomes a law, it will 
forever preserve to the people of the United States the birth- 
place of this illustrious and greatly beloved man who stood not 
only for the preservation of the free institutions of our own 
country but was an example for all the world. His birthplace 
was a log cabin and his parents were humble though respectable 
people. His useful and honorable life well demonstrates to 
the world what a man may accomplish for himself in this 
country by building up character, integrity, and unselfish work 
in the interests of the people. Mr. Lincoln did not have the 
opportunity of an education in any great college or university 
but he did learn the value of character, the principle of fair 
dealing, and recognized the rights of humanity. He came from 
Kentucky to Indiana and then to Illinois at an early age and 
followed surveying, was postmaster and a village merchant in 
New Salem, Menard County. He studied law, was admitted 
to the bar, and practiced his chosen profession, going from court 
to court, or, as it was known in that early day, by riding the 
circuit. Many of those with whom he was associated in early 
life and practiced law with him became famous as lawyers and 
occupied responsible places, not only in Illinois, but in the 
Nation. Nearly all of the associates of Abraham Lincoln in 
Illinois at that early time have passed away. There is, how- 
ever, in this House one who knew Lincoln, practiced law with 
him as a young man on the circuit in the eastern part of the 
State along the Wabash • River. I refer to Hon. Joseph G. 
Cannon, ex-Speaker and at present a Member of this House. 



33 



H m c s t c a d o f A h r a h a m L.i u col n 

Mr. Cannon also had tla- dislincLion of Ix-ing present at one of 
tljc great joint debates whieli took j^lace between Lincoln and 
Douglas, at Charleston, 111., in 1S5.S. These debates between 
these intellectual giants will never be forgotten by the people 
of Illinois, and each spot where these men met to discuss the 
great issues then before the people has been carefully marked, 
that they might be preserved throughout all time. Mr. Lincoln 
was a member of the Illinois Legislature in 1836 and 1837, which 
met in the city of \'andalia. The old statehouse is still there 
and now used as a courthouse. Among those who ser\'ed with 
him in that legislature and afterwards l)ecame distinguished 
were Stephen A. Douglas, James Shields, Archy Williams, 
Ninian Ivdwards, John J. Hardin, Jesse K. Dubois, John A. 
McClernand, and Usher V. Linder, and others that might be 
mentioned, lie also served in the legislature of 1838-1840. 
Mr. Lincoln did not sjxeially distinguish himself during his 
term of ser\'ice in the legislature, but did take an active interest 
in local affairs in the State. He afterwards became a Member 
of Congress, serving one term in the House of Representatives. 
The stirring times which brought on the LiNcoLN-Douglas 
debates in 1858 throughout the State of Illinois, in which they 
held joint discussions in every congressional district of the 
State, developed great interest in the questions of that time, 
which then divided the North and South, and made Mr. Lincoln 
famous throughout the Nation and had nuich to do with making 
him Tresident of the United States. Mr. Lincoln was a re- 
markable man in the fact that he never seemed to hold revenge 
or resentment against a man in the world. His kindly disposi- 
tion toward those who differed with him in what he believed 
to be right was one of the strong charactertstics of liis nature. 
Many harsh and imkind things were said about Mr. Lincoln 
as a public man, and he was severely criticized in his public acts 
as PresideiU, but with all the abuse which was heaped upon him 
it did not cause him to return this ill treatment or say any 
unkind things. No President of our country ever sulTered 
more anxiety in regard to the welfare of the Nation than he, 



34 



Homestead of Abraham Lincoln 

and no one ever bore it with greater fortitude. When we read 
of his Hfe and the many slanderous things said of him one some-, 
times wonders how he was ever able to bear up under it all. 
It seems that our Presidents must many times remain silent 
during severe criticism. Theirs is the welfare of the Nation, 
and they have a duty to perform as its Chief Executive and 
must not turn from the right as they see it, however much they 
may be criticized. People are often too prone to criticize a 
President for partisan purposes; not only was this the case in 
LincoIvN's time, but down to the present. Lincoln did not 
hesitate to change his mind whenever he was convinced it was 
for the best interest of the country to do so, but every time he 
did so he was abused for it. He was personally abused, yet 
all this criticism failed to change his nature, but he went forward 
determined to perform his duty as he saw it. He did not 
spend his time abusing those who indulged in abuse of him, 
but went about his work determined, as he said — 

With malice toward none and charity for all to do the right as God gives 
us the power to see the right. 

His chief desire was to preserve the Union, that our country 
might be united and the flag once more be the emblem of liberty 
for all the people in every part of this Republic. His solicitude 
for the welfare of the individual soldier was many times demon- 
strated during those long four years by his kindness, and his 
sympathy and encouragement to those who were unfortunate in 
losing their relatives and friends in the Army was well known 
to all. His memorable speech at Gettysburg will live as long as 
time lasts as one of the greatest ever delivered in all the history 
of the world. His second inaugural address showed in every 
word his determination to prosecute the war to a successful con- 
clusion and save the Union, and our duty when the battle was 
over to care for those who fought for our country, but to forgive 
those who fought on the other side. He recognized they were 
our brothers and our o^n people, and if this country was to 
again be united we must treat them as such. They fought for 
what they believed right, and v/hen the surrender at Appo- 



35 



Homestead o f Ahr ah am Lincoln 

luattox took place the Old I'lag was again acknowledged as the 
emblem of peace and liberty, and we can all say — 

Your flag and our flag, 

And how it floats to-day 
O'er your land and my land 

And half the world away. 

Blood red and rose red, 

Its strijjes forever gleam; 
Snow white and soul white. 

The good forefathers' dream. 

Sky blue and true blue, 

With stars that beam aright; 
A gloried guidon of the day, 

A shelter through the night. 

Your flag and my flag — 

Oh, how much it holds 
Your heart and my heart 

vSecure witliin its folds. 

Your heart and my heart 

Ikat quicker at the sight; 
Sun kissed and wind tossed, 

The red and blue and white. 

The one flag! The great flag! 

The flag for me and you! 
Glorified, all else beside. 

The red and white and blue. 

It was unfortunate for the North, but more especially for 
the South, that he should have been taken away at a time when 
his ser\'ice was so much needed in reconstrticting that devas- 
tated portion of our country which had suffered the ravages 
of war. Had he lived, it is believed that the unfortunate con- 
dition which resulted after the close of the war would never 
have taken place. lie held no enmity to the South, but it was 
believed liis love and solicitude for the people there was such 
tliat the outrages conmiitted after peace was declared would 
never have taken place had he been permitted to ser\e out his 
term and give his assistance to the people in rebuilding their 
homes and country. To-day our coimtry is happy, indeed, in 
lli#' knowledge lliat wi- had an .\hkaii.\m Lincoln during those 



36 



Homestead o f Ahr ah am Lincoln 

trying times. The people of Illinois are proud that they fur- 
nished to this country and to all the world an Abraham Lincoln 
who preserved this Union that they who follow after him might 
enjoy these blessings of a happy and a united country and that 
our country will be a beacon light to all the world as a land of 
liberty. Let us preserve these blessings to all our people. 
We can not be true to the flag unless we are true to the principles 
for which the flag stands. We are all thankful that there is no 
sectional feeling within our borders and the bitterness of 1861 
and 1865 is gone, and that men meet without sectional quarrel 
and only with kindly feeling to each other. We thank God 
that upon this floor those from the South are here to speak in 
praise of Lincoln. They had their heroes in battle whom they 
praise. Why should they not? Shall they be criticized for 
doing so ? Their loved ones fought for the cause they believed 
just, and many lost their lives on the battle field. The example 
of the life and character of Abraham Lincoln is an inspiration 
to every individual to put forth his best efforts for his country. 
Times may come when people take sides upon great questions 
and contend for what they conceive to be the best, and it is right 
that such should be the case with every true American. With 
such questions settled by the majority, they acquiesce in what is 
best for the greatest number. In no other way can our Republic 
be preserved. We should emulate the life and character of this 
illustrious martyr that we, too, may render some valuable serv'ice 
to our country. Let us not endeavor to take from society in 
this world without giving something in return. With rights and 
privileges come responsibility. We should do our part. Let 
us perform our work so that it may be said of us, "We have 
fought a good fight and have kept the faith." 

Abraham Lincoln is gone, but the inspiration of his life will 
live forever. [Applause.] 

Mr. McKiNLEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he desires 
to the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Cannon]. [Applause.] 



37 



REMARKS BY JOSEPH G. CANNON, OF ILLINOIS 

Mr. Chairman, Lincoln was born in Kentucky, if I recollect 
right, on the 12th day of February, 1809. No one could have 
dreamed what his future would be. They have found the log 
cabin where he was born, the place upon which it stood, the 
farm upon which his father failed to make a living, and it has 
been purchased and endowed with $50,000 and is now tendered 
to the Government of the United States. It is meet and proper 
in my judgment that this bill should pass. We are building a 
great memorial here in the city of Washington to IvINCOLN, and 
I am glad of it, as is everyone, but that memorial, located just 
beyond the Washington Monument, marks his service as a 
lawyer, as a statesman, as President. That memorial is not so 
high as the Washington Monument, but it is broader and longer. 
It is not dwarfed by the Washington Monument, nor by the 
Capitol, nor should it be. But, after all, if he had not been 
bom he would not have been President. I am not a believer 
in special providences, but if I were I would say that he was 
bom with a mission. Mr. Chairman, there is an old Greek 
myth that one of the tasks of Hercules was to meet and over- 
come Antaeus. 

He ascertained that the secret of Antaeus's strength was 
that every time he touched the earth his strength was renewed. 
So, placing his arms about him, he held him up in the air until 
he died for the want of sustenance. The Greek myths, many 
of them, tell the story of strength renewed by touching the 
earth. We all understand that in this country, and, in fact, 
in all countries, in the main 'the men who lead in achievements 
are of the generation or near to a generation that has touched 
the earth. [Applause.] 

The genesis of Lincoln was a happy one. The family moved 
over into Indiana on the way to Illinois. They halted first in 
Indiana, and then settled in IlUnois, in the county of Coles, and 
then over in the county of Menard. He was a boatman, then a 



39 



Homestead o f A b r ah am Lincoln 

surveyor, a nurcliunt, soon btcainc a lawyer, and a successful 
one, and went to the legislature. He had everything in com- 
mon with the people of the borderland. Politician as well as 
lawyer, though not a reformer, he was a partisan. He was a 
member of the Whig Party, and one of his principal opponents 
at the bar in the early days was Mr. Douglas. Douglas forged 
ahead, came to the House of Representatives, was elected and 
reelected to the Senate of the United States, and became the 
leader of his party, being a wonderfully strong man. 

Lincoln was ambitious. He possessed a law practice that 
would not be counted lucrative now, although it abounded in a 
large number of cases. If fees had been paid then of the size 
of the fees now, with the amount now involved, he would have 
had a wonderful income. Judge Davis, upon whose circuit he 
practiced, told me that the largest fee which Mr. Lincoln ever 
received was $5,000, in a litigation for the Illinois Central Rail- 
way, touching the 7 per cent of the gross earnings that went 
into the treasury of the State and freeing the railway from 
ta.xation. Mr. Lincoln was successful for his client, and held 
his breath and charged $5,000, but had to sue the corpora- 
tion to make it pay. Mr. Davis, afterwards justice of the 
Supreme Court of the United States, told me that Mr. Lincoln 
never before had received such a fee, and rarely as much in the 
aggregate as $5,000 a year. 

He had his equipment for his afterlife work. Born in Ken- 
tucky, he came to Illinois, which was settled in the central and 
southern portions from Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, 
and Virginia principally. For a long time settlements were 
sparse in the northern part of the State, although there was a 
considerable settlement there from the East. But the early 
settlements were mostly from the Southland. There came some 
Democrats and some Whigs, about evenly divided in politics, 
and they used to say when they spoke of the Kentuckians — 
Whigs, Democrats, strong partisans — that the Kcntuckian took 
his politics like he did his whisky, namely, straight. And so 
it was. 

Mr. Lincoln became a candidate for the Senate after the 
passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill. In 1858 Mr. Douglas 



40 



Homestead o f Ah r ah a m 1^1 n coin 

being a candidate to succeed himself, he was Mr. Lincoln's 
opponent; and this was the issue, in substance: Lincoln was 
not an abolitionist; nor was Douglas, for that matter. Douglas 
was for squatter sovereignty; that is to say, Lincoln took the 
position that slavery was not national; that it was sectional, 
and that a State when it came in, or even after it came in, 
could legalize slavery, but that in the national domain there was 
no law to protect the property where it was invested in the 
slave, the South taking the position that it was property, and 
therefore it was entitled to protection in the national domain. 

Mr. Douglas said that he would be, to a certain extent, neu- 
tral. Said he, "We will let the Territorial legislature, the people 
of the Territo;y, determine whether slaver\- shall exist in that 
Territory or not, prior to its admission as a State, if it be ad- 
mitted as a State afterwards. And the contest was a fierce 
one. The Wliig Party was di^^ded in twain; the Democratic 
Party in the North was divided in twain; and there never was, 
I dare say, in all the history of the countr}' such a campaign 
as was made by Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas. Lincoln held 
his own, but Douglas had a national reputation. Lincoln's 
reputation was as a lawyer in the Middle West, north of the Ohio 
River. This campaign brought him to public notice because he 
could hold his own with the "Little Giant." It was the foun- 
dation which made him a candidate for the Presidency and 
which resulted in his election. Of all men li\'ing, in my judg- 
ment there was no man in the United States who was so well 
equipped from his early life to be President as Abraham 
Lincoln. [Applause.] 

!My colleague. Dr. Foster, said that I had known Lincoln 
and attended the LiNCOLN-Douglas debates in 1858. That is 
true in a measure. As a young man I met Lincoln on a number 
of occasions — on the ninth judicial circuit of Illinois, at the 
Illinois convention which made him the candidate of the State 
for President, and during that memorable campaign in i860. 
I attended the debate between Lincoln and Douglas at 
Charleston, 111., in September, 185S. The prairies of central 
Illinois were vacant that day, for all the people went to Charles- 
ton to hear the two champions in the fourth debate. They were 



41 



Homestead of A h r a h a m Lt n coin 

pritlv cijiuill) ili\ iili.(l in I heir loyally lo llie Iwo lucu, and 
in that section at tliat time men were virile in their partisan- 
ship. There were banners and bands, and the little towii was 
ovemui with people from far and near. The meeting was held 
on the fair grounds, and eacli party had its chairman to welcome 
its leader and preside together. 

It was at that meeting that Lincoln took advantage of 
Douglas to make tlie Democratic chairman testify against him. 
The Hon. O. B. I'icklin, a former Representative in Congress, was 
the Democratic chairman and had welcomed Douglas and intro- 
duced him to the audience. In that speech Douglas repeated 
his charge tliat Lincoln had refused to support the administra- 
tion's conduct of the War with Mexico. Lincoln had denied 
this charge at Preeport and at Jonesboro, but when it was re- 
peated at Charleston he showed that old human trait of "get- 
ting even." Wlien he referred to the charge and his former 
denials, he whirled about, reached out his long left arm, and, 
taking Chairman Ficklin by the collar, yanked him out of his 
chair and to the front of the platform, much as an old- 
fashioned schoolmaster brought out a bad boy to be trounced. 
The crowd, anticipating a fight, Ijecame excited, but Lincoln 
remarked: "1 am not going to hurt Col. Ficklin; I only call 
him as a witness. Now, the colonel and I were in Congress to- 
gether, and I want him to tell the whole truth about this Mexi- 
can business." Col. Ficklin was in an embarrassing place; he 
told the audience that he was the friend of both Douglas and 
Lincoln and did not want to be a party to the dispute, but that 
Lincoln had voted just as he did for the supplies for the Army 
in Mexico, though Lincoln had voted for the Ashmun amend- 
ment, declaring that the President had exercised unconstitu- 
tional powers in beginning the war. It was Lincoln, the lawyer 
on the circuit, compelling the witness for the prosecution to 
testify for the defense. 

The Republicans were wild with enthusiasm and the Demo- 
crats disappointed over the incident, but there was no further 
disturbance, and the adroitness of Lincoln disj)osed of the 
charge that he had been disloyal to the Army in refusing to 
vote the necessary suj^jilies to the troops in Mexico. Lincoln 
lost in that senatorial contest, but it made him the Republican 



43 



Homestead o f Ahr ah am Lincoln 

leader in i860, as it made impossible the election of Douglas to 
the Presidency by dividing his party on the slavery question. 

Lincoln did not suit the extreme North, because in the main 
it was extremely radical, with the Garrisons and the Phillipses, 
and many others. Of course, he did not suit the extreme 
South, because there too was radicalism; but when you came to 
Missouri and Kentucky and portions of Tennessee, Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Maryland, there was a di- 
vision almost half-and-half. They were virile men. The 
Caucasian race is virile, and where they honestly have con- 
victions you know that they are ready to fight for tliem. 
Lincoln knew how far he could go in that great contest with 
our arms, and whether he could succeed or not, by being able 
to keep his hand upon the public pulse on the very stage where 
the war was principally conducted, namely, in the borderland. 
He could place his hand upon his heart beats, shut his eyes, 
put the question to himself, and determine what it was neces- 
sary to do and say, and receive the support not only of the 
Republicans, but the Democrats in the main, strong partisans 
as they were. And it was necessary to have a substantial vote. 
We all know what happened in Missouri. In Kentucky the 
Kentuckians boast that their quota was full in both armies, 
which was true, and so on along the borderland. There were 
specks of war at times in Illinois and in Indiana. Battles were 
fought, one or two in the district that I now represent, in the 
circuit upon which Lincoln traveled, between men, our kind of 
men, our blood — Americans. 

In the meantime the radicals in the North were not satisfied. 
They said he went too slow. Ministers in the pulpit, many of 
them, openly said he was not performing his duty. There was 
an abolition sentiment in the North ; the farther north you got 
the stronger the abolition sentiment. It was not so strong in 
the borderland as it was in New England and in New York and 
in northern Pennsylvania and northern Ohio. Delegations of 
preachers came to see him and put it up to him: "Why don't 
you free the slaves ? " They said the Lord had sent them. He 
gave them this answer, in substance : " It seems to me if the Lord 
had a communication to make to me, I being chiefly responsible 
as leader, lie would give it to me direct." [Laughter.] 



43 



Homestead o f A b r a h a m Li n c o I n 

l-'riciuU of his j,'rc\v lukewarm. 1 read llie weekly New York 
Tribune, the only real newspaper we had in our township. It 
came in — two or three hundred copies — at a dollar a year. 
When I was a boy it was a great champion of protection and 
bore testimony agiunst slavery — a radical. And yet when the 
real trouble came Horace Greeley in the Tribune said, "Let 
the erring sisters go in peace," and quarreled with Lincoln, 
because Lincoln would not help contribute to that end. And 
so it was all along the line. 

By the by, will you bear with mc? I do not want to weary 
you 



SiiVERAL Members. Goon! 

Mr. C.VNNON. For the first two years of the war the Union 
Anny did not have great success. In the fullness of time came 
Vicksburg and Gettysburg and victory. People took heart. 
Two million two hundred thousand men, most of them enlisted, 
by that time were trained. We had in our Army more than 
were in the Confederate Army. We greatly exceeded them in 
mnnbcr. We were much better off. We had more of railways 
than they had. But they w^ere fighting, do not you see, upon 
their own ground, as France is now fighting. It is easier to 
defend the hearthstone than it is to conquer the hearthstone. 
Well, there was much of trouble. People in the North wanted 
to compromise. In the South they did not want, in consider- 
able number, to compromise. They were fighting for what they 
conceived to be their rights under the Constitution. [Ap- 
plause.] Lincoln, you recollect, in answering one of his letters 
in 1862, said to Greeley: 

If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if 
I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save 
it by freeing sonic and leaving others alone, I would also do that. 

Strange — he was criticized, especially in the Northland as 
well as in the Southland. He was reminded that the Consti- 
tution guaranteed property in the slaves. He acknowledged it. 
He said : 

I have taken an oath hi defend the Constitution; but, he added in his 
homely way, was it fxjssihle to lose the Nation :uul yet preserve the Con- 
stitution? By general law life and limb must be protected, yet often a 
limb must be amputated to save a life; but a life is never wisely given to 
save a limb. 

44 



Homestead o f Ahr ah am L, in coin 

And in the time of war for the preservation of the Union and 
the preserv^ation of the Constitution, when it became necessary, 
laws were silent, and in three weeks after the preachers had 
visited him he gave notice by proclamation, if the States of the 
South did not return to their allegiance by the ist of January, 
as a war measure we would declare the slaves free, and he did. 

Now, the partisan papers of the North, including the New 
York World and the New York Herald and Greeley in the New 
York Tribune, were firing into him. Greeley was not pleased — 
and I will tell you about that a little later on, if you will indulge 
me. Those partisan newspapers did not want to see him re- 
elected. They attacked him from every angle, fiercely and vig- 
orously, not striking above the belt, but below the belt. No 
man in my time was abused as he was by the press. But it did 
not seem to bother him. He did not complain. It was won- 
derful how the papers commended and patted on the back Fre- 
mont, who was our first leader in 1856, and took him up when 
the radicals, you know, held a convention at Cleveland. The 
newspapers were full of Fremont's candidacy, and the radicals 
who were to nominate him did not say much about Lincoln's 
political prospects. I sometimes think that history repeats itself 
when I recollect the action of the newspapers of that time. 
Well, I will not come nearer speaking of more recent history. 
[Applause.] 

Greeley, editor of the greatest Republican paper of the coun- 
try up until the beginning of the War for the Union, had a per- 
sonal grievance against Lincoln. When the convention met at 
Chicago, with factional troubles in New York, Thurlow Weed 
and Seward and that faction prevailed over Greeley, and he 
could not go to the convention as an original delegate, but he 
got a proxy from a delegate for Oregon, and he was in the con- 
vention and worked for the nomination of Lincoln. Lincoln 
elected, Greeley had the right to believe that he ought to have 
been in his Cabinet. He began to fight and find fault. The 
situation grew worse and worse. Lincoln picked Chase and 
those who had opposed him in the convention for nomination, 
including Seward, and put those two in his Cabinet. The great 
trouble was upon Seward, his Secretary of State, and Lincoln 



4S 



Homestead of Abraham Li u c o J n 

siiid lo Greeley's friends: "We can not take two men from New 
York; I am pursuing this policy." The politicians did not see 
as well as the statesmen. Greeley became aggrieved, and they 
fought all through until 1864 came. I will not take time to tell 
what he said and what Lincoln said in reply. It is good read- 
ing. Von will Inul it in Mcpherson's History of the Rebellion. 
"A Mii.MniiK. Tell that story. 

Mr. C.\NNi)N. The gentleman says, "Tell that story." The 
surroundings are not as good as they could be for telling that 
story — the surnnnidings are good, you know, but we are all 
prohibitionists now. [laughter.] But 1 will tell that story, 
if you will indulge me, because it throws a strong light upon 
Lincoln's character. Lincoln was nominated; McClellan was 
nominated ; Lincoln for the preservation of the Union and the 
prosecution of the war. And, mind you, you did not, down 
South, have anything to do with McClellan's nomination. He 
was nominated by the Democratic North, upon a platform de- 
claring the war a failure and advocating an armistice, that we 
might preserve the Union l)y compromise. 1 jncoln, in his char- 
acteristic way, said, referring to it as reported in conversation, 
"Suppose we were to try to compromise. We talked about that, 
and many people tried it before the war began. But can one 
man make a bargain?" 

Well, it looked as if Lincoln was to have a hard time for re- 
election. He believed that he ought to be reelected. The Re- 
I)ublicans believed that he ought to be. Many Democrats in the 
North believed that he ought to be; but the campaign was hot. 

For four or si.x years, along about 1878, 1879, ^"^^ 1880, I had 
a colleague in the House here by the name of Waldo Hutchins. 
He was a Democrat at that time, although prior to Greeley's 
candidacy for the Presidency he had been a Republican. In the 
Greeley campaign he became a Democrat, voted for Greeley, 
and then later was elected to Congress as a Democrat. He was 
a strong, honest, square man, and a truthful man, I have no 
doubt. He knew Mr. Lincoln very well. Mr. Hutchins told 
me that one evening he climbed the long stairway in the 
Tribune Building, then, I believe, the highest building in New 
York, and found Greeley in his ofTice, and said, "Mr. Greeley, 
what's the news?" 

46 



Homestead o f Ah r ah a m 'Lincoln 

"Oh, nothing, nothing," said Greeley. 

After a little conversation Greeley said to Hutchins, "There 
is a letter I received." 

Hutchins said he took the letter and read it, and it was from 
Mr. Lincoln's secretan.-, addressed to Greeley, and it said, " The 
President instructs me to say that he would like to have an in- 
ten-iew with you, and as matters are at present he finds it im- 
possible to get away from Washington. Is it asking too much 
to ask you to come to Washington?" 

The letter was two days old. Said Hutchins to Greeley 
"Have you answered the letter? Have you been to Washing- 
ton?" "Xo," said Greeley. 

"WTiy don't you answer it?" 

"Oh, I don't care to." 

Hutchins told me that he grabbed the letter and said. " I will 
take it." 

Greeley said, "As you choose." 

Mr. Hutchins said he rushed down the stairway and found a 
hack, and said to the driver, "I \vill give you three times your 
fare if you will catch the last boat to Jersey City." 

The driver laid on the whip, and Hutchins caught the last 
boat and caught the train, although it was in motion when he 
got on board for Washington. Hutchins came to Washington 
and went to breakfast at the Willard Hotel. Then he went to 
the ^Tiite House. The messenger said, "Why, Mr. Lincoln 
can not see you now. He is just getting up." 

Said Mr. Hutcliins, "I must see him."' 

"Oh, well, you can not see him now. It is impossible." 

Said Hutchins, "Take this card to the President"'; and he 
told me, "I scribbled upon my card that I had come in conse- 
quence of that letter that his secretary had written to Mr. 
Greeley." 

The messenger came back and said, "The President sa}"s to 
show you up." 

"He was dressing, and we talked, and I told him what Greeley 
had said. Lincoln said. 'I am glad you came. Greeley has 
a just grievance from his standpoint against me. He voted 
for my nomination and advocated my election. He had a right 

3S796-'— 16 J 47 



Homestead o f A b r ah am Lincoln 

to bflit'vc tluit he would be rLCoj^ui/i-tl, and he would have 
been under ordinary conditions, but under the conditions as 
they then were and now are I could not, performing my duty as 
President, ask him to be a member of my Cabinet. I believe 
I shall be reelected. I believe I ought to be. God knows if 
it were not for the sense of duty that I owe to the people and 
to civilization I could not be hired to be President. If I am 
reelected, 1 believe it will be but a short time until this great 
struggle will close. Seward is a great man, but of a different 
faction from Greeley. When this war closes we will have great 
need for a diplomat at the Court of St. James. We have a 
long account to settle with Great Britain. Seward has per- 
formed great serv-ice as Secretary of State. I believe he could 
perform better service as ambassador to the Court of St. James. 
By the by, Franklin perhaps was the greatest man that ever 
lived in this country — philosopher, statesman, scientist. He 
was Postmaster General under the Confederation.' " 

Hutchins said, "Yes; so he was." 

Lincoln said, "Franklin was a printer. Greeley is a printer. 
Do you know I believe Greeley would make a good Postmaster 
General. I think I am right in saying that is the position he 
would rather occupy than any other." 

Hutchins said, "Am I at liberty to say that to Mr. Greeley?" 

"Oh, you can say it, but, mind you, I am not making a 
promise to bind me in the constitution of my Cabinet. I am 
telling you how I feel toward him personally. I am honest 
about it." 

Hutchins departed, went to New York on the next train, 
climbed the stairway again, and repeated the conversation to 
Mr. Greeley. Greeley said, "Did Lincoln say that?" 

"Yes." 

Without another word Greeley wheeled in his chair, sat at 
his desk, and for 20 minutes wrote, and then read to Hutchins 
that greatest of all bugle calls published in the New York 
Tribune, which I think did much, perhaps more than all the 
other papers put together, to reelect Lincoln, lining up the 
Republican Party from the standpoint of patriotism and the 
salvation and preservation of the Union. 



Homestead o f Ahr ah am Lincoln 

Sequel: Said Mr. Hutchins, "The day before Mr. Lincoln 
was assassinated I got another letter from his secretary stating 
that the President desired to meet me, and asking me if I 
would come to Washington. I left on the next train, the same 
train that I had taken in September or October before. I ar- 
rived in Washington in the morning, and when I got off the 
train the newsboys were crying that the President was assassi- 
nated. I have no doubt on earth but that he called me to 
Washington to tender through me the Postmaster Generalship 
to Mr. Greeley." 

So Mr. IviNCOLN was a politician. He was a partisan, but he 
had that great common sense as a leader which led him up to 
the preservation of the Union. Greeley and some of Lincoln's 
generals and some members of Lincoln's Cabinet criticized him. 
Some members of his Cabinet were perfectly willing to take 
the whole thing out of his hands and run the Government. He 
just let them stay. You know they were useful. He went on in 
the even tenor of his way. I will not go into that further. You 
all recollect about it who are old enough, and the rest of you 
have read about it. Nobody regarded Lincoln as a hero during 
that great contest* His recognition as of heroic mold came after 
his death. You know heroes are great fellows. Sometimes the 
people regard them as heroes, and sometimes they proclaim 
themselves as heroes. [Laughter.] Let me say to you that 
that does not apply to one party alone. There are other pebbles 
on the beach. [Laughter.] With his great good sense, with his 
feet in the soil, with no collegiate course, God made him, and his 
associations in youth and manhood had been such that he was 
enabled to lead and lead successfully. 

You remember what George William Curtis said in notifying 
Lincoln of his second nomination: 

Amid the bitter taunts of eager friends and the fierce denimciation of 
enemies, now moving too fast for some, now too slow for others, they have 
seen you throughout this tremendous contest patient, sagacious, faithful, 
just, leaning upon the heart of the great mass of the people and satisfied to 
be moved by its mighty pulsations. 

By the by, I am reminded of the Gettysburg speech. Edward 
Everett made a great speech there. Everybody was listening 



49 



Homestead of Abraham Lincoln 

to ICvLTc'tt. Nobody knew that Lincoln's little tlircu-rainute 
speech was a jewel. It was not said to be a jewel until long 
after he was dead. After it was made the partisan press at- 
tacked it. Some of them siiid it was ridiculous and vulgar. 
Well, you know how it was in a hot campaign, and the cam- 
paign was very hot in 1864 in the Northland. Yet there is not 
one schoolboy in a hundred in the United Stales in a high 
school who knows that Ivdward liverett made the principal 
address on that occasion, but I dare say that ninety out of a 
lumdred of the bright-faced boys and girls can repeat Lincoln's 
three-mimile Gettysburg speech. It is a classic, and will live 
when you and I are dead and gone and forgotten. 

Then take the letter that he wrote to the Irish woman in 
Boston, who lost four or five sons in defense of the flag. That 
was a wonderful letter. I had rather have the capacity to write 
that letter, or to make such a speech if the occasion arose, than 
to have all the i)roperty of all the earth. [Applause.] 

Now, I have catch heads here enough to last me a long time, 
but I have talked too long. [Go on ! Go on !] Well, not much. 

Listen to one of the radicals during- the campaign of 1864. 
Wendell Phillips was an extreme radical ot the North. lie 
said: 

If William Lloyd Garrison stcxsd in the President's place I slioiild have 
no fears. Can I put the same trust in Abrah.\m Lincoln? In the first 
place, remember he is a politician, not like Mr. Garrison, a reformer. Poli- 
ticiiuis are like tlie foreleg and shoulder of a horse, not an upright bone in 
the whole column. 

[Laughter.] 

That which is not itself crooked stands crooked — 

[Laughter.] 

and but for the beast, could not move. Reformers are like Doric columns. 
Might may crush them, but can neither bend nor break. 

I suppose a rcfonner has his place. I sometimes think they 
get pretty thick. They say that their province is to fight with 
the Almighty, that the Almighty and one are a majority. Well, 
they have their place. I am not liere to abuse tlieuL Nearly 
all of them are honest, but once in a while one of them is a 



SO 



Homestead o f Ahr ah am Li^i co In 

hypocrite, makes his living by being a reformer, but who would 
think of one of them for a Member of Congress, or Senator, or 
President. For those offices we want a politician, a man of 
affairs, a man whose range of vision can cover the whole country, 
and if necessary the whole world. 

Lincoln was assassinated by a crazy man. Later on Garfield 
was assassinated, and later on McKinley ; and when Ijncoln was 
assassinated it was the saddest day for the Southland and the 
Northland. [Applause.] There would have been no mistake 
made, in my judgment, if Lincoln had not been assassinated. 
When the proposition was made to put South Carolina and 
Virginia together in one military district he said, "No; I want 
to keep the States separate so far as I can to preserve their 
autonomy and to help strengthen the Union." [Applause.] 
But he was assassinated. If he had remained President when 
your State governments were being formed you would not have 
had reorganizations that made peons practically of the late 
slaves, and when that happened then came reconstruction with 
all the hardships that followed. It was a great loss to the 
North and a great loss to the South. 

I believe the hand that used the weapon to take the life of 
Lincoln was inspired by the press, North and South, that de- 
nounced Mr. Lincoln. I believe the same thing is true of Gar- 
field, and the same thing is true of McKinley. I believe in the 
freedom of the press, but, oh, at times a terrible effort is re- 
quired to guarantee that freedom when the liberty of the press 
gets to be the license of the press. 

Now, one further word and I will sit down. When I get to 
talking about Lincoln in common conversation, I suppose I 
could talk all day, as many of you and millions of others could 
throughout the country. Who are the men that have effected 
civilization in all the days from the Master bom in a manger? 
Who were His disciples, the fishermen ? And from the time of 
His crucifixion down to this time He has grown and grown, and 
His teachings, notwithstanding the great struggle we are hav- 
ing now among three hundred millions on the other side — His 
teachings grow more powerful and useful to tlie human family. 



51 



H m c s t c ad of A h r a h a m Liu coin 

The nan tliat have been the stronj^a'st leaders of the world 
are men boni in the cabins, in humble life, and of humble 
parentage. A Member referred to Napoleon the other day. 
Napoleon was of the first generation that we know anything 
about, and substantially when he died that was the end of the 
generation, although there is one man who is respectable in 
ability and a citizen of the United States. 

And so you run along. Take it in poetry. Robert Bums, a 
son of the soil. Robert Bums speaks of the people in his won- 
derful songs, and, in my judgment, has done more for civil and 
religious liberty than any man for many, many generations — 
and I was going to say centuries. [Applause.] 

Who was the father of Shakespeare? He had no descendants, 
so far as I know, and yet his plays will live through all time. 
And then there were Goldsmith, Whittier, Dickens, Thackeray, 
Tolstoi, Andrew Jackson, Garfield, Morton, Sherman, Grant, 
Carnegie, Bell — and I could stand, if you had the patience to 
listen, and read a list by the hour. The old saying on the 
Wabash, homely as it was, is true, "It is three generations from 
shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves." It was true then and true now, 
and has been true substantially in the whole history of the 
world. 

You know that if you go into New York or into Chicago or 
the great centers you will find that three out of four men in 
business who direct the affairs of men were sons of farmers or 
others who lived in the sweat of their faces, who worked in 
early life and have become qualified for their subsequent 
career. Once in a while one of them makes a very great for- 
tune, and if he gets too strong somebody tries to take it away 
from him, and sometimes succeeds, and we call him a pluto- 
crat; he commenced as a democrat and became a plutocrat. 
[Laughter.] 

By the way, I have for the first time in my life been reading 
Kmerson a little bit, and in his essay on Napoleon he winds 
up near the close with this statement. Napoleon, you know, 
became first consul, overran Europe substantially, was then 
Ivmperor, then came St. Helena. He was a democrat and ran 
through all of the stages before he died, but Ivmerson uses this 



sa 



Homestead o f Ahr ah am Lin co I 



n 



sentence, "The democrat is a young conservative; the conserva- 
tive is an old democrat; the aristocrat is a democrat ripe and 
gone to seed." [Laughter.] The first part of this definition 
appUed to Lincoln, who was thoroughly democratic and also 
conservative, but never aristocratic. Emerson said of him, 
"He stood, a heroic figure, in the center of a heroic epoch. 
He is the true history of the American people in his time." 
[Great applause.] 

Mr. Clark of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield 15 minutes to the 
gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Sherwood]. 



SZ 



REMARKS BY MR. SHERWOOD, OF OHIO 

Mr. Chairman, sitting here to-day in this presence I could not 
help but grow reminiscent listening to the splendid tribute to 
Abraham Lincoln by my old friend, Mr. Cannon. That vital 
historical recital reminded me of the time when we came into 
the Forty-third Congress together on the first Monday of De- 
cember, 1873. [Applause.] I believe that Mr. Cannon and 
myself are the only Members in either branch of Congress now 
in public life who were Members of that Congress. There were 
historical characters in that Congress, men called to deal with 
both ethical and fundamental questions growing out of the 
Civil War, questions that stirred the blood and commanded 
the most potent mental endeavor. Just across this aisle sat 
two intellectual athletes — Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, of Massa- 
chusetts, and S. S. Cox, of Ohio and New York — who continu- 
ously measured the strength and potency of their rasping 
scimitars at close range. Near the seat where now sits our 
able and alert leader of the minority [Mr. Mann] sat my old 
Army comrade, James A. Garfield, then chairman of the Appro- 
priations Committee, afterwards President of the United States. 
Right in front of the Speaker's desk, in his wheeled chair, was 
Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, late vice president of the 
Confederate States, a man of intense and powerful intellectual- 
ity, a true type of that array of intellectual giants that made 
both the House and the Senate great forums of debate during 
and after the war. 

James G. Blaine, the idol of his party, was Speaker of the 
House and the recognized leader. On the Republican side sat 
6 representatives of the negro race, just enfranchised, and on 
the Democratic side 10 or 12 of the battle-scarred veterans of 
the Confederate Army. I had the honor of a seat between Gen. 
"Joe" Hawley, of Connecticut, and George Frisbie Hoar, of 
Massachusetts, the former then famous as a soldier, the latter 
as the exponent of the highest culture in the domain of civics. 



55 



Homestead o f A h r a h a m Lincoln 

lUil Icsl 1 bu classed as a rciuiiiiscciit, 1 will not iiululgc in rcni- 
inisccncts further. I am not a pessimist. I believe in to-day, 
1 believe in the future, I believe in the better day to come. 
And if the debates I have listened to in this Congress seem tame 
and commonplace, it is because no great vital questions to stir 
men's blood have been under consideration, questions to waken 
the full force of high intellectual effort. .Should a great crisis 
confront this Congress, I sincerely believe that there is material 
on this floor, on both sides of this historic Chamber, to equal in 
forensic power the record of the past. Such a crisis may not be 
far off. I remember also the first speech of my colleague, Mr. 
Cannon, made 43 years ago on the floor of this House, and 
then, as to-day, we all sat up and took notice. [Applause.] 

THE LOG-CABIN ME.MORI.AL TO LINCOLN 

You will all concede that nothing new can be said of 
Abr.'\h.\m Lincoln. History and biography and the muse of 
poetry have been busy with his name and fame for over a half 
a century, and history has said its last word. It was that 
crash of cannon shot against the walls of Fort Sumter which 
started the movement that made the name of Abraham Lin- 
coln the most sacred heritage of the redeemed Nation, With- 
out the titanic conflict that followed, the name and fame of 
Abraham Lincoln might never have inspired a national lyric. 

It is not great men who make great epochs of history. It 
is great epochs that make great men. Had there been no 
Trojan War there would have been no Homer. Had there 
been no conflict of the kings in the fonnative period of English 
literature there would have been no Shakespeare. Had there 
been no War of the American Revolution there would have 
been no George Washington, and had there been no Civil War 
from 1 86 1 to 1865 there would have been no Abraham Lincoln. 

The American people were leading a dull and melancholy 
life before that awful struggle of anns, but with that crash of 
cannon shot against the walls of Sumter came a new and in- 
spired life. When the stonn burst, the fmger of God dropped 
the plummet into the Dead Sea, and with the overflow came 
new hopes, new ambitions, and new inspirations. And through- 



56 



Homestead of Abraham Lincoln 

out that four years' struggle, the most desperate and long con- 
tinued of modern wars, the leading hand, the guiding spirit in 
the camps and courts and capitols of the Nation was Abraham 
LiNCOi^N, the President and commander in chief. 

I remember on the 4th of November, 1864, we were on a 
march in Tennessee, a forced march, toward the battle field of 
Franklin. The Ohio Legislature had passed a law (they had 
the old ballot system then before we had imported the system 
from Australia) that the soldiers in the field should vote. The 
Ohio presidential tickets had been sent to me for my regiment, 
the One hundred and eleventh Ohio. We were on a forced 
march the day of the election for President of the United States. 
We were to start at daylight. Just before daylight I had my 
horse saddled and rode back 3 miles to the rear and borrowed 
from our brigade surgeon, Dr. Brewer, an ambulance and a 
camp kettle. Whenever we rested that day, on that rapid 
march, the soldiers of my regiment voted in that old camp 
kettle in the ambulance. We counted the votes at night by 
the light of the bivouac fires. One-third of my regiment were 
Democrats, and yet there were only seven votes against 
Abraham Lincoln in the whole regiment. 

I remember also after the Battles of Franklin and Nashville, 
and after we had driven Gen. Hood and his army across the 
Tennessee River, we were placed on transports and carried up 
the Tennessee and the Ohio to Cincinnati ; then across Ohio and 
Virginia on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to Washington. We 
reached this city March 3, consigned to an ocean voyage to 
some point in North Carolina to meet the army of Gen. Sher- 
man coming up the coast from Savannah. Abraham Lincoln 
was to be inaugurated the following day, March 4, 1865. I was 
looking for a war horse in Washington, as my last horse was 
shot at the Battle of Franklin, but I was determined to see 
Lincoln and hear his second inaugural address. I had never 
seen Abraham Lincoln. There was a vast crowd on the east 
front of the Capitol. It seems to me there must have been 
20,000, with many hundred boys in blue, and officers in full 
uniform, including Gen. Joe Hooker. I had on my old war- 
worn uniform, once a blue uniform, now tarnished with grime 



57 



Homestead of A b r a h a m Lincoln 

Irum tlic red clay roads of northern dtorgia and the stickv mud 
of west Tennessee. My old slouch hat with a hole burned in 
the crown, caused by sleeping with my head too close to a 
bivouac fire, was not a fitting crown for inauguration day, but 
I worked my way througli that vast throng to within 6 feet of 
AuRAHAM Lincoln, and I heard him deliver his last oration on 
earth. I heard him say: 

I'ondly do \vc hope, fervently do we l)ray, that this mighty scourge of 
war may sj^'cdily pass away. With malice toward none, witli charity for 
all, with firnmcss in the right, as God gives us to sec the right, let us strive 
to finisli the work we are in; to bind up the Nation's wounds; to care for 
him who sliall have Ixjnic the battle and for his widow and his orphan. 

[Applause] 

Over a half century has passed since that eventful day. I 
can see Lincoln now as I saw him then — a tall, spare, gaunt 
man, with deep lines of care furrowing his cheeks, with inex- 
pressible sadness in his face, the face of a man of many sorrows. 
A sad face, a strong face, a face radiant with the inspiration of a 
great soul, as he voiced in prophecy the ultimate destiny of this 
Nation. As a soldier of the Republic I heard Abraham Lin- 
coln voice his national ideals in his last message to the American 
people. 

Two miUion soldiers fought under Abraham Lincoln, the 
revered President and Commander in Chief, in the most desper- 
ate and longest enduring war of modern times. Over and above 
the 2,000,000 soldier graves that are, or soon will be, there rises 
triumphant in the radiant glory of a world-wide beneficence, the 
prescient prophet of emancipation, the leader in the grandest 
epoch-making era of all civilization. [Applause.] 

Then I recall another scene that I shall never forget. It 
was the day after the surrender of Lee's army at Appomat- 
tox. Our Anny was marching up the right bank of the Neuse 
River, in North Carolina. I saw in the distance a man on 
horseback, riding a magnificent horse — riding like mad — and 
as he approached the head of our column it was plainly to be 
seen that he must have been riding hard, for his horse's flanks 
were white with foam, his eyes flashed fire, his nostrils red as 
blood. As he neared our front he shouted at the top of his 



58 



Homestead o f Ahr ah am Lincoln 

voice, "Lee's whole army has surrendered." Every marching 
soldier behind a gun voiced the gladness of his heart. The 
whole Army went wild. That line of march was about lo miles 
long, and I could almost hear the last shout of joy away down 
to the end of the line. That officer was Lieut. Riggs, on the 
staff of Gen. Schofield, the commander of our Army corps. We 
were all tired of war, and that was the gladdest day that 
Army ever saw. It was the proudest day any army ever saw 
since God created the world. We had fought the good fight, 
we had kept the faith, and we knew that the war was nearing 
its end, and that we could again go to our homes and clasp 
again the angels of our own household. And what a terrible 
change from universal joy to the deepest gloom followed this 
gala day. On the 15th of April, 1865, after we had reached 
the environs of Raleigh, I saddled up my horse to ride into 
the city. I had to pass through the camps of about 60,000 
soldiers. Camps are always noisy. There are always some 
soldiers who are singing songs, and our Army was always 
buzzing with cheerful voices. They were all cheerful then, 
because we were seeing the end of the war. But that morning 
the camps were as still as the grave. I met a staff officer and 
inquired, "Why this silence in the camps?" He replied, 
"President Lincoi^n has been assassinated." There was uni- 
versal mourning in the Army. Every soldier loved and revered 
Abraham Lincoln, and that whole camp was as silent as this 
House in the midst of the prayer of the Chaplain. That is how 
the Army regarded Abraham Lincol,n. Every soldier loved 
him as a brother. 

Now, as to this log-cabin tribute: We have built many 
monuments to Lincoln. We have dedicated many statues in 
bronze and marble; we have four in the city of Washington. 
I was under the great dome this morning. I saw Vinnie 
Ream's marble statue of Lincoln in the plain clothes of an 
American citizen; I saw Borglum's representation of the face 
of Lincoln, double heroic size. In Judiciary Square there is 
another figure in marble of Lincoln, and in Lincoln Park there 
is a true-to-life figure of Lincoln in bronze in the act of un- 
shackling a slave. We are building a splendid temple to him 



59 



Homestead of Abraham Lincoln 

on the hanks of the Potomac. That is all right. But nionu- 
naiits and teniiiles and statues have no emotion, no human 
sympathy, no voice. But here is Lincoln's old Kentucky home. 
Here is the log cabin where he was bom. Here is a silent 
monitor leaching a vital lesson in patriotism. Here is a symbol 
of liope and cheer to every poor boy struggling against poverty 
for an honorable career. Here is a Mecca where all the chil- 
dren of the Nation can gather and take courage in the story 
of a man, born in a rude log cabin, who learned to read books 
at nigiit in the silent woods by the light of a pine-knot fire, 
and who became the guiding hand — the leading spirit — in 
one of the greatest epochs of all history. [Continued applause.] 

Mr. McKiNLEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield five minutes to the 
gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Smith]. 



60 



REMARKS BY MR. SMITH, OF MINNESOTA 

Mr. Chairman, under ordinary circumstances, after hearing 
the able and exceedingly interesting speeches of Hon. Joseph G. 
Cannon and the Hon. Isaac R. Sherwood and others upon the 
life and deeds of Abraham Lincoln, I would not be so pre- 
sumptuous as to attempt to add anything to what has already 
been said about "the greatest memory of our earth." 

The transfer by the patriotic Commonwealth of Kentucky of 
the log cabin in which Lincoln was born to the gentle care and 
protection of the United States is no ordinary occasion. 

I never expect to witness a more patriotic and inspiring 
scene. It is an event that arouses in every American heart a 
desire to give expression to the love and veneration in which 
he not only holds the great emancipator but everything con- 
nected with his life from childhood to the grave. 

From the fullness of the American heart the mouth speaketh 
of the things that make life worth living; of the things that 
ennoble and sanctify God's heritage to man. 

Would that I had the ability to depict for you my heart's 
image of Abraham Lincoln; it would fill you with thanks- 
giving to Almighty God for having sent in the hour of our 
country's direst need Abraham Lincoln — the greatest power 
for good and the greatest leader of men since Christ — "a Christ 
in miniature," said Tolstoy. 

Filled with such emotions, I know that my generous and 
patriotic colleagues will bear with me while I in my humble 
way on this historic day lay a sprig of laurel on the tomb of 
one of our own kind and generation — the immortal Lincoln — 
the friend of man. 

Bom of humble and illiterate parentage, on Nolan Creek, in 
a wild and unsettled hickory forest of Kentucky, in this rude 
cabin — a very strange and unlikely place for the birth of the 
Nation's saviour. From this lonely home in the wilderness, 

6i 



Homestead o f A b r a h a m Lincoln 

ck'voici of IxKtks, scliools, and cluirclics, aiul even of the stim- 
ulus of educated companions, this incomi)arabk' child of the 
forest by sheer force of character advanced step by step in 
knowlcdije and statecraft until he reached the hij^hest position 
in the gift of the greatest Nation on earth. And this, too, at a 
time when that Nation needed its greatest genius to save it 
from sclf-destniction. 

These inspiring exercises testify more ehxjuently tlian any 
words of mine how completely he restored the Union as it was 
Ix-fore the mighty rebellion, in which he was the matchless 
leader. To-day the Southland is vying with the Northland in 
paying homage to the memory of the preser\'er of our Common- 
wealth, its (lag and free institutions. If the shades of the 
venerated and martyred Lincoln could witness this scene of a 
reunited and happy people, its cup of joy would overflow. 

His was a life filled with greatness and sadness — free from 
malice, jealousy, and revenge. 

His solicitude for the welfare of the South after the fall of 
the Confederacy was beautifully expressed in these words: 

I want tlic people of ihc Soutli to come back to the old home, to sit 
down at tlie old fireside, to sleep under the old roof, and to labor luid rest 
and worship God under tlie old flag. I'or four years I have seen the flag 
of our Union riddled with bullets and torn with shell and trailed in the 
dust before the eyes of all the nations, and now I am hoping tliat it will 
please God to let me live until I shall sec that same flag imsuUied and 
initom \va\ing over the greatest and most jxjwcrful Naticm of the Ciu-th — 
over a nation of freemen — over no master luid over no slave. 

When Lincoln gave expression to these noble sentiments his 
heart was filled with solemn joy over the close of the war, and 
his mind was occupied with hopes for the future welfare of his 
country and his countrymen. For some time he had been 
laying plans by which the States could be reunited, and the 
brave men who had fought on both sides of the mighty struggle 
could live in peace and happiness ever after. Events followed 
each other in such quick succession the great President did not 
have an opportunity to impart to his associates his plans of 
reconstruction before he was removed from this earth by an 
assassin's bullet, and the earthly career of the "best-loved man 



6a 



Homestead of Abraham Lincoln 

that ever trod this continent was translated by a bloody mar- 
tyrdom to his crown of glory." 

Though the soul of Lincoln had returned to its God as white 
as it came, it left behind a grief-stricken Nation — a Nation in 
tears. He had won for himself a place in the hearts of his 
countrymen that will endure until the end of time. While we 
love our great benefactor as an individual, he loved us as in- 
dividuals and collectively. The secret of his remarkable life 
was his intense love not only of man and mankind but of all 
nature. He was so constituted that he grieved at the pains 
and rejoiced at the pleasures of his fellows. His sympathy 
knew no bounds, going so far as to forget himself in his desire 
to be useful to mankind. It was his strongest instinct, inherited 
from his refined, gentle, and sensitive mother and wonderfully 
developed through his childhood association with nature. 

Lincoln's lowly birth served to develop him to the fullest 
perfection and endowed him with the highest and noblest 
qualities in man. 

His childhood association with running brooks, vine-clad rocks, 
and hickory forests teeming with song birds and overrun with 
wild flowers, had much to do with fonning his simple, earnest, 
and truthful character. 

He grew to man's estate with a heart in full sympathy with 
every phase of life, capable of consorting and sympathizing 
with all things. In this respect he differed from his associates, 
for they were only capable of sympathizing with a few things. 
Though many of them were intellectual giants, they lacked the 
power to develop a broad human outlook; they were limited 
to their particular point of view, the political, the social, the 
commercial, and the religious, and judged life accordingly. 
Hence, anything outside their contracted sympathies they con- 
demned as a thing of evil, and spent their energy trying to save 
it from damnation. 

What was true of Lincoln's associates applies with equal 
force to the men of this day and age. Prejudices and antipa- 
thies originating in birth are seldom eradicated, and never if 
the child is brought up in a narrow groove. 

Our environment exerts upon us a strong incentive to think, 
act, and judge as others do. 

38796°— 16 5 63 



Homestead o f A b r a h a m Lincoln 

Lincoln's succt-ss in life and his usefulness to mankind was 
his ability to rise above this parrot-like existence and to place 
himself in the position of others in order that he might under- 
stand them :ind be of use and ser\'ice to them. Because of his 
broad, human; educated sympathies he was enabled to do this 
to a greater extent than any other historic personage of the 
world. There was no misguided sentiment in his make-up. Is 
it any wonder that, constituted as he was, he became the 
matchless leader of men? While an idealist in the truest 
sense, he was, at the same time, unusually practical and sound 
on all questions that affected man's relation to society. 

That Abr.miam Lincoln was in fuller s>Tiip>athy with man- 
kind than any other man is evidenced by what he said and what 
he did for mankind during his earthly existence. 

When a man said to him, "The people will go wrong on this 
subject, ' he replied, "Intellectually, probably they may; mor- 
ally, never. In the multitude of counsel there is safety," said 
he, quoting from the Bible. Expressions of this kind flowed 
from his lips in countless number : 

God must have loved the common people, for He made so many of them. 
You can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of 
the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. 

He always saw the distinction between an attempt to suppress 
public opinion and direct public opinion. 

Our duty is to direct public opinion in the right channels; 
never to attempt to suppress it. That was Lincoln's philos- 
ophy, and his life and works are an exemphfication of that 
philosophy. 

Under Lincoln the Nation had a new birth of freedom, and 
it is for us, the liN-ing, to dedicate ourselves to the preser\-ation 
of that Nation to sustain which he gave the last full measure 
of devotion. 

Mr. McKiNLEV. Mr. Chairman, I Nield five minutes to the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Hicks]. 



REMARKS BY MR. HICKS, OF NEW YORK 

Mr. Hicks. Mr. Chairman, it is not for me to review the story 
of Lincoln's life or relate the memories and traditions which 
cluster around his name. That story, with its pathos and trials, 
its tragedies and triumphs, its humor and its sadness, has been 
told so often that it is impossible to illuminate the picture or 
add to the reverence and the homage which the world pays to 
Abraham Lincoln. 

Born in obscurity, nurtured in abject poverty, he closed life's 
fitful course the grandest figure of his generation, the noblest 
contribution of America to an enlightened civilization. 

For many and many an age proclaim. 

At civic revel and pomp and game, 
With honor, honor, honor to him, 

Eternal honor to his name. 

The life of Lincoln, with its contrasts and contradictions, de- 
fies analysis and refutes the theory of heredity. The environ- 
ment in which he was reared is in direct antithesis to the inspir- 
ing significance of his life. Misjudged, maligned, ridiculed, yet 
undaunted and undismayed, sustained by the unseen Hand that 
guides the destinies of men, he trod the weary path alone. 

In that mysterious laboratory of Nature which knows naught 
of birth or wealth or station his brow was touched by the 
magic wand. Through the privations of his early years, in the 
gloom of struggle, the invisible flame within glowed \\dth an 
effulgent light. In the quiet of the wilderness, by the blazing 
logs on the hearth of the rude cabin which to-day we venerate 
above the abode of princes, there came to him from the eternal 
silence of the starry sky that long, far call. 

In Lincoln were combined the noblest attributes of the mind, 
the heart, the soul. The stones in the foundation upon which 
was reared the structure of his life were simplicity, honesty, 
sincerity, and sympathy, bound together in enduring strength 
by his faith in his fellow men, his faith in his country, and his 



65 



H tn c s t c ad o f ^^ b r a h a m Lincoln 

fiiilli in liis God. Where was the loucli that raised liini to such 
heiglits? What was the loadstone of his power? Wherein lay 
the secret wlicrehy he stands forth the cnibodiinent of the ideals 
and the i>crsonification of the spirit of the Nation? \Ve ask, 
hut we ask in vain. No positive, final answer has vet been given 
to the (luery. 

In the crisis tlirough which the Nation is jiassing let us keep 
constantly before us the memory and deeds of Lincoln; let his 
unswerving courage anfl lofty patriotism be our guide in this 
hour of trial and tribulation. We may be divided upon issues 
affecting our domestic policN , but upon the preservation of the 
rights and dignity of the Nation there can be no division. Upon 
that subject, Mr. Chairman, we stand united as Americans, and 
our detennination to maintain absolute and inviolate the honor 
of the flag must rise supreme to all prejudice for or against any 
of the contending powers; superior now and always to the 
selfish interests of other nations. Let the spirit of Lincoln the 
patriot, Lincoln the American, strengthen our hands and give 
courage to our hearts, and so enable us to face the problems of 
the present as he met those of the past, with the full measure 
of devotion to our country. 

The acclaim of loyalty and patriotism which wells from the 
hearts of the Nation's representatives on the floor of Congress 
upon every allusion to the name of Lincoln is a benediction of 
the past and an inspiration for the future. Forgetting sectional 
animosities, rising above political prejudices, every State offers 
its tribute of alTcction and veneration to the memory of the 
martyred President and proclaims its loyalty and devotion to 
a great united country. The honor of that name is the heritage 
of all, North and South. The bitterness and the anguish 
engendered by the mighty conflict of a half century ago have 
faded away; the dark clouds of hate and jealousy which hard- 
ened the hearts of men on both sides of that struggle have given 
place to the sunshine of respect and confidence. Under the 
softening influence of that noble sentiment of Lincoln, "With 
malice toward none and with charity toward all," the line of 
Mason and Dixon has been obliterated. Across the chasm 



66 



Homestead of Abraham Lincoln 

once drenched with the blood of heroes are extended the hands 
of brothers, brothers who like — 

The mighty mother turns in tears 
The pages of her battle years, 
Lamenting all her fallen sons. 

To you gentlemen of the Southland in whose veins flow the 
blood of the soldiers in gray, who in your magnanimity claim 
that Lincoln is yours as well as ours, let me answer, as one from 
the North, Yes; Lincoln is yours as well as ours, and Lee is 
ours as well as yours. [Applause.] But in revivifying the 
memories of the past I would rather forget that there are any 
yours. I prefer to remember only that it is all ours; that 
American greatness and American heroism knows no section 
and belongs to no generation; that in our nationalism we are 
all Americans united in a common cause, possessed of a common 
love for country and for flag. [Applause.] 

]\Ir. Clark of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I jield two minutes to 
the gentleman from IMissouri [Mr, Russell]. 

The Chairman. The gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Russell] 
is recosrnized for two minutes. 



67 



REMARKS BY MR. RUSSELL, OF MISSOURI 

Mr. Chairman, I have no prepared speech, and will not in the 
short time I have make any extended remarks, but I want sim- 
ply to express my favorable consideration and my approval of 
this bill, the purpose of which is to accept for the Government 
the cabin home and birthplace of Abraham Lincoln as a dona- 
tion from the present owners, the Lincoln Farm Association of 
the State of Kentucky. I believe that is a patriotic and a proper 
thing to do, both because we owe it to the memory of this great 
man to accept this donation of his birthplace and because I 
believe it is important as an inspiration and encouragement to 
other boys of our country who have been or who may hereafter 
be born in humble homes and of humble parentage. It helps to 
impress upon the minds of all American boys that the humblest 
in birth or station among them may aspire to places of the 
highest distinction and honor. 

I knew of Lincoln when I was a boy. I remember the Civil 
War very distinctly, and when the war began, and when my 
eldest brother went to light on the side of the South for four 
years. I as a child was prejudiced against Abraham Lincoln. 
I was taught to believe he was an enemy of the South ; but before 
that war was over we took a different view of it, and our people 
got to believe that he was our friend, a patriotic man in the dis- 
charge of a great duty to humanity and to his Government. 
I was, as an ii -year-old farmer's boy, in the cornfield dropping 
corn on the 15th day of April, 1865. My father went to town to 
get his mail, and when he came back he told us that Abraham 
Lincoln had been assassinated. There was no man in this 
Union more deeply grieved than my father, and all of his family 
shared in his genuine grief. 

I overheard the minority leader of this House [Mr. Mann] 
about five years ago say one day when Washington's Farewell 
Address was being read that he hoped the time would some time 
come when some Democrat would have the patriotism to read 

69 



H ni c s t c ii d f A h r a h a m l./i n coin 

in this House Aukauam Lincoln's tiettysburg speech. 1 
accepted the suggestion, and four times on Lincoln's birthday, 
I have read that great ami masterful speech, and with the per- 
mission of the vSpeaker of this House, I intend to read it every 
year on Lincoln's birthday as long as I remain a Member of 
this House. [Applause.] 

Mr. McKiN'LivY. Mr. Chairman, 1 yield lo minutes to the gen- 
tlemen from Nebraska [Mr. Sloan]. 

The Chairman. The gentleman from Nebraska [Mr. Sloan] 
is recognized for lo minutes. 



70 



■REMARKS BY MR. SLOAN, OF NEBRASKA 

Mr. Chairman, I can not hope to bring a new message on 
Abraham Lincoln to the House of Representatives. It is a 
tribute to the general intelUgcnce of the American people that 
few men, either of learning or of experience, can bring any new 
message to the American people with reference to this primal 
American character. 

I talked a short time ago with the author of this bill. He 
expressed the thought that seemed specially pertinent, that the 
discussion on this floor at this time should be related largely to 
the nativity, rather than to the achievements of America's 
statesman and martyr. I was pleased that in the preparation 
of the few remarks I shall submit I confined myself to facts 
touching his nativity rather than his achievements or death. 

The devotees of Christianity have among their finest pictures, 
upon which has been expended the genius of many artists in all 
the ages, the "Nativity." The "Nativity" graces the walls of 
all the great art galleries where the divine touch of the artist 
has been made imperishable for the view and admiration of men. 
I trust that some American artist in the years to come will make 
classic the American "Nativity"; and that the subject will be 
the birthplace of Abraham LincoIvN. 

The Lincoln homestead of which we speak has a record run- 
ning first from the Crown of England to the colony of Virginia. 
Then resting in the State of Virginia, and finally through private 
conveyances it reached the name of Thomas Lincoln, the father 
of the martyred President. What a strange train of events has 
passed since the title granted by the Crown to the title now 
granted to the Republic. During that time, of course, there has 
been much added value. The acreage has been reduced and the 
wild wood has been removed. Spacious and imposing buildings 
have been erected thereon. There is carried, in addition to the 
value of realty, valuable personal property amounting to $50,000. 
But how insignificant is that added value when we consider the 
value that the name, fame, and achievements of Abraham 
Lincoln have contributed to the American Republic. 

Clustering around Lincoln's natal year are grouped the birth 
of many characters far-famed for their achievements. 



71 



H t}i c s t e n d of ^-1 h r ii h a m Lin col n 

Clunks Robert Darwin, \\ Ijose study iiud comiuuiiioii with 
nature i)asse(.l its artificial bounds, was born the same day as 
Lincoln. He saw demonstrated far-reaching and progressive 
laws which, now indorsed by the scientific world, has advanced 
scientific resean-li further than had been accomplislied since 
Lord Bacon's inductive philosophy overthrew the system of 
Aristotle 3cxj years before. February 3, 1809, over in Germany, 
Mendelssohn, whose divine touch, combined with creative genius 
made him one of the world's princes of harmony, was bom. 

January 19, 1809, came Kdgar Allan Poe, that weird poet of 
the night and storm, whose eccentric genius, both assailed and 
defended by critics, has left its impress on American verse, fur- 
nishing that rare accomplishment — a distinctive style. 

In the same year Lord Tennyson, Britain's greatest laureate, 
was born in I'jigkuid. He said "Better fifty years of Europe 
than a cycle of Cathay." Well might it now be written: "Bet- 
ter a century of America than a milleimium of Lurope." 

In that same year Gladstone, Britain's greatest statesman 
since the day of Pitt and Peel, first saw the light. 

In America that year gave us Oliver Wendell Holmes, wit, 
humorist, i)OCt, and philosopher, to lighten the hearts and in- 
struct the minds of his countrymen. 

That year also gave us Cyrus McCormick, who invented the 
American reaper, which has contributed so largely to our agri- 
cultural production. 

In the Hall of Fame, based upon the world's general esti- 
mate, all of these occupy commanding positions, but easily 
towering above them all stands LIaNCOLN. 

He first looked upon the sun from a lonely environment, the 
wildwood cabin in the then county of Hardin (now county of 
Larue), in the new State of Kentucky, which had at that time, 
through the chronicles of Boom* and his contemporaries, earned 
the sanguinary appellation of "Dark and bloody ground." 
Christ was born, not in a walled city, nor yet in the contending 
capitals of vSamaria or Jerusalem. His nativity was humble 
Bethlehem. The nativity of Lincoln was not in intellectual 
Massiichusetts, commercial New York, or chivalric \'irginia. 
His parents were as unambitious as their forest home would 



Homestead o f Ahr ah am Lincoln 

indicate. What ancestral strain of purpose, character, and 
mind with which he was endowed came from his mother. One 
of those mothers wiio, suppressed by her position and burdened 
by her cares, can seldom command the recognition due, except 
it be in the generation delayed, when the plaudits are given to 
the words and deeds of a wise or successful son. And in this 
way will the American people remember Nancy Hanks Lincoln. 

At this time Thomas Jefferson, the inspired author of the 
Declaration of Independence and the strict constructionist of 
the American Constitution, was just closing his second presi- 
dential term. Napoleon had but recently strengthened America 
and weakened Europe by the sale of the Louisiana Territory 
to the United States. He was at that time walking on the 
writhing forms of European kings. The sun of Austerlitz had 
risen, Jena and Friedland had been won, and Europe rocked 
at his feet as he stood at the zenith of his power, while kings 
became his subjects, and emperors, to no purpose, were combin- 
ing against him. When Lincoln was born, there was yet to come 
the conflagration of Moscow, the snows of the north, Waterloo, 
St. Helena, and a rocky tomb. Such was the setting surround- 
ing the date which ushered Abraham Lincoln into the world. 

Nor would this setting be complete if it were not noted that 
in the same dark and bloody realm, in a community now part 
of the county of Todd, within less than a year of Lincoln's 
birth, Jefferson Davis was born. Less than a hundred miles 
separated their birthplaces, but throughout their momentous 
careers there was little convergence, yet had a strange relation. 

Two companion snowdrops, pure, clear, and crystalline, as 
they fall touch the loftiest peak of the mountain chain. They 
freeze into a mighty mass, which yields to nothing except the 
wooing of the summer sun ; and while they lie but a few inches 
apart, in their melting mass each moves down a different slope; 
each finds its mountain torrent conveying it to flooded river, 
and that swollen river to the sea. One reaches the turbulent 
Atlantic, the other the peaceful Pacific. Davis moved south- 
wardly to Mississippi, the then great cotton State, where slavery 
thrived. Lincoln found his way through Indiana to the 
prairies of Illinois, where labor was free. 



73 



Homestead o f A h r a h n in Lincoln 

One year's schooling was the nicasuir ui Lincoln's scholastic 
opportunity. Jefferson Dux is, well tauj^ht, was later educated 
at West Point. 

Hacli i)reside(l during; four years of tragedy over a Republic. 
The one Republic struggled for an existence, the other battled 
to maintain its integrity undiminished. There was citizenship 
sufllcient for the two greatest Republics on earth, but I rejoice 
to hear from either siile of this hall the satisfaction that but 
one remains. 

The cabin home this afternoon being considered was in the 
State which produced these two great characters. In that great 
struggle it seemed, as it were, that that State could not decide 
between the fortunes of her two matchless sons. It presented a 
divided allegiance. This measure furnishes to-day a fitting text 
for fraternal, patriotic sentiment from every part of this ex- 
panded Union. 

Above his body at the Springfield home stands a moinuiient 
viewed annually by tens of thousands. At the entrance to the 
great park at Chicago which bears his name, in heroic mold 
stands in imperishable bronze one of the most imposing statues 
of America. It was a triumph of the genius of St. Gaudens, 
America's j^reniier sculptor. Hundreds of thousands who visit 
the great metropolis by the lake view it annually, departing 
with inspiration of renewed partiotism. At the National Capital 
soon to be completed near the scene of his activities, is a mag- 
nificent Greek temple erected to the memory of Lincoln. Few 
out of the multitudes annually visiting Washington will fail to 
visit it and render tribute to Lincoln's memory. But down in 
Kentucky is the fourth Lincoln shrine. In point of reference 
and sequence it should be first, because it points to origin as the 
others call our attention to achievement, fame, mortality. 
Collectively they evidence to all the ages the miracle of the Re- 
public. Humility of origin with greatness of soul are the step- 
ping stones to jjrimacy among men. [Applause.] 

Mr. McKiNLivV. Mr. Chairman, 1 \iel(l one-half a minute to 
the gentleman from Ohio [.Mr. I'V-ss]. 

The CiLMRMAN. The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Pess] is recog- 
nized for half a minute. 

74 



ElEMARKS BY MR. FESS, OF OHIO 

Mr. Chairman, listening to the address of Gen. Sherwood, a 
reference to a certain event — the bombardment of Fort vSum- 
ter — indicated to me that the significance of the vote to-day will 
be intensified when we recall that this is the anniversary of the 
opening of the Civil War. 

Fifty-five years ago to-day Edwin RufHn fired the first gun at 
Fort Snmter, and I thonght that it would be significant just to 
remind Congress of tliat incident. 

And 51 years ago day after to-morrow will be the anniversary 
of the assassination or of the shot that eventuated in the death 
of Arraham Lincoln, so that these two incidents give intensity 
to the vote upon this occasion to-day. I wanted by recalling 
those incidents of that particular time to refresh the memory 
of the House. 

Mr. McKiNLEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield five minutes to the 
gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Switzer]. 



75 



REMARKS BY MR. SWITZER, OF OHIO 

Mr. Chairman, it will always be to me a fond remembrance 
to recall that as a Member of the American Congress I not only 
had the opportunity but that I availed myself of the privilege to 
vote for the appropriations made for the construction of that 
magnificent memorial, now nearing completion, in the Capital 
of the Nation to the memory of the great Civil War President, 
"God's grandest gift of man to men" — Abraham Lincoln. 
From the ranks of the frontiersmen he rose to the Presidency 
of the Nation. This obscure country lawyer did not believe 
that the Nation could survive half slave and half free. He was 
firmly convinced that "a house divided against itself could not 
stand." Regardless of the contention that it would be uncon- 
stitutional so to do, he found a way to liberate 4,000,000 bonds- 
men and still preser\'e the Union. 

Charged with the commission of all manner of high crimes 
and misdemeanors and unconstitutional acts while in office, no 
man was more reviled than he; yet to-day no name is more 
lauded and revered than his. All sects, creeds, and parties vie 
with one another in loud protestation of their great loyalty 
and high respect for the opinions held and for the principles 
and policies advocated by Abraham Lincoln. Time has vindi- 
cated the absolute justice of his course, and silenced the carp- 
ing criticisms of his enemies beyond the peradventure of a 
murmur. 

In dedicating to the Nation the birthplace of this illustrious 
American, Kentucky gives renewed luster and added fame to 
her already immortal name. The Nation through its Congress 
accepts this token of high respect to the memory of our martyred 
President as the most magnanimous of the many generous 
and noble deeds for which the people of the great State of 
Kentucky are so famed. The dark and bloody ground, the home 
of Daniel Boone and other noted pioneers, by this patriotic act 
is consecrated anew to that Jeffersonian idea of liberty, the 

77 



Homestead o f A b r a h a rn Lincoln 

equ.iiuy of all men Ijciurc the law, which was ever so near and 
dear to the heart of Abraham Lin'coln. As the generations 
come and go, we trust that they niay not only travel to the last 
resting place of this great man and visit the Nation's memorial 
to his name, but that they may also journey to the scenes of his 
childhood, and at the fountain head of his noble life drink deep 
the holy inspiration which has animated this tribute of patriotic 
citizens to the crowning glory of the Nation — the final memo- 
rialization of the birthplace, the life, and the last resting place 
of Lincoln. [Applause ] 

Mr. Mann. I yield five minutes to the gentleman from Ver- 
mont [Mr. Dale]. 



73 



REMARKS BY MR. DALE, OF VERMONT 

Mr. Chairman, a new Member fnids it interesting to watch a 
bill on its way through this House and to observe the statements 
that carry effect in its passage. 

During the past week there have been indications that sec- 
tional and conflicting interests will continue as long as there 
is water in rivers and harbors; but, Mr. Chairman, to one com- 
ing from the far North and meeting in this forum the generous, 
loyal men of the South it is pleasant to quickly perceive that the 
time is past when argument can gain force here from those old 
war issues that lie buried under principles that we now all 
w^elcome as immortal. [Applause.] 

When we speak here of the leaders of that period of strife 
that was we summon quickest response at mention of the human 
sympathy in each for all the embattled hosts. In the final 
judgment of mankind upon the great men of history it is kindli- 
ness which survives the brightest. It is that which ennobles 
the manner in which the heavy obligations of the South were 
assumed when they were laid on the well-nigh breaking heart 
of Robert E. Lee. Because the man of whom we speak to-day 
was, in his high position, distinctly gentle and considerate, 
Members from the Southland give cordial support to this pend- 
ing measure. For this reason they express tender and heroic 
sentiments that are tributes of the finest nature to the char- 
acter of Abraham Lincoln. Artistic skill m.ay well exhaust 
itself in memory of the kindliness of this supreme man ; but the 
substance of the expression of that quality is elusive, and it 
may leave the marble hall for the log cabin, its natural home. 
There we find the best expression of that broad sympathy that 
went out through all the cabins of the North and of the West 
and awakened heroic impulse in the youth of the common 
people. 

When the Third Regiment from the State of Vermont was 
formed it included many men who w-ere born in log cabins. In 



38796°— 16 6 



79 



Homestead of ^^1 h r a h a m Liu coin 

that regimt'iit, as it aiinpccl up here on the Potonuic \o miles 
away, was a y)oy, William Scott, who, while doing double service 
for his comrades, fell asleep on picket, was court-martialed, and 
condenmed to be shot. Then in the darkness of the night the 
President of this great Nation at war, wearied as he must have 
been, ordered his horse and carriage and rode out to save the 
life of that young boy. In the pitiful affair at Lees Mill he 
fell, whispering a prayer for AiiK.\n.\.M Lincoln. Enlisted with 
him were three Stevens brothers, sons of a widowed mother in 
my home. One of those boys fell at Lees Mill, one was the first 
to be shot out here on the Rockville Pike in the battle for the 
defense of this Capital, and one went home disabled for life. 
These boys and all those like them felt the inspiration of this 
great man, and it enabled them to face danger more easily, and 
it took away from them the sting of death. 

Incomparable man that he was, where do we find the source of 
his inspiration ? 

In that humble home there came to him, earlier than memory, 
the consciousness of one who was the very substance of jjatience 
and tenderness and mercy, and was to him the origin of justice. 
In her face he beheld first the expression of the infinite qualities 
that made his own character sublime. In that there is reason 
enough to save tlic old log cabin. 

All his life was unnatural in that it forced ill causes to good 
effects. In form and feature he was rough shapcn and plain, 
but through relief of agony to many he became the handsomest 
man in all the world. The legislature rejected him for the Sen- 
ate, and out of disappointment he made humor by saying that 
he felt like the boy wlio stumped his toe — too hurt to laugh and 
too big to cry. 

He came to his inauguration in a guarded train along a line 
where the telegraph wires had been cut that men might not shoot 
him, and above the cloud of threatened intent rose the spirit 
that impelled him to drive all night to save a boy from being shot. 

The nuiltitude besieged him to dull weariness, and it made 
sensitive a tone in his nature that felt response to the cry of an 
infant in the throng, and he said, "Send in next that woman 
with a baby." He was called a countryman, unfit for official 



8e 



Homestead of Abraham Lincoln 

place, but when the telegram came from the man in command 
of the Armies in the great crisis of the war indicating the fearful 
loss of life that must follow, Dr. Edward Everett Hale, observing 
him as he moved among and counseled with the polished and 
able gentlemen of his Cabinet, said that his grace of manner and 
wisdom of expression were superb. When at last that group 
of eminent statesmen who had concurred in the opinion that he 
lacked the ability to be President stood over him, and it was 
said "now he belongs to the ages," his life closed in a splendor 
of blending contrasts. 

In that rude shelter of his childhood tliere dwells more than 
in statue or memorial the emotion of that process by which his 
own want increased his sense of human need and made him 
generous. 

The common comforts of life, the just estimate of men, and 
all the elem.ents of equity, he knew only through the giving of 
them to others. 

Out of longing that grew intense by denial the very passion of 
his humor and tenderness and mercy became supreme. That 
which he found not for himself he gave in abundance to others, 
and his whole life was passed in bringing from resisting condi- 
tions marvelous results. 

Nothing indicates so well the life that v^^as itself a contrast, 
a paradox, the meager compensation that came to him and his 
rich bestowment to the Nation as the log cabin and the marble 
hall by which it is inclosed. 

Ah, Mr. Chairman, let us preserve this old log cabin, that 
generations may learn from it the qualities that there had birth 
and are changeless and deathless forever. [Applause.] 

Mr. Clark of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield lo minutes to 
the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Barkley]. 



8i 



REMARKS BY MR. BARKLEY, OF KENTUCKY 

Mr. Chairman, if it were necessary to apologize to the House 
on this occasion for occupying its time for a few moments, I 
feel that it would be sufficient to say that my reason for speak- 
ing is not only the fact that I, in part, represent the State in 
which Lincoln was born, but also from boyhood I have been 
tremendously interested in his character and career. 

It is very appropriate that during this year the Lincoln farm 
should be donated to and accepted by the Government of the 
United States, for it is the one hundredth anniversary of the 
removal of Abraham Lincoln from Kentucky to Indiana, he 
having crossed with his family the Ohio River in 1816, never 
thereafter having returned, so far as I know, to the place of his 
birth. 

If time were afforded I should like to recount the names of 
those men who, during the history of this Nation, have gone 
out from Kentucky to bless the civilization of every State in 
the Union and the Nation itself as a whole. If I could recount 
the names of the governors and Senators and Members of this 
House, the ambassadors to foreign nations, the ministers of the 
Gospel, the teachers of men, and the long list of worthy sons 
in every walk of life, whose birthplaces were in the same State 
in which is located this remarkable home which gave Lincoln 
to the Nation, I am sure I might be able to enlist your admira- 
tion for the product of that great State on whose soil Lincoln 
himself was born. To Kentucky has frequently been ascribed 
the honor of producing a variety of things for the benefit of 
humanity, but I think we may properly, on this occasion, refer 
to the great men, as well as the great women, who have gone 
out from that State and mingled with the people of every sec- 
tion, all v.'ith honor to themselves and credit to their native 
State. 

In all this list two names stand out preeminent. One is the 
name of Jefferson Davis and the other is the name of Abraham 



83 



H in c s t c a d o f .7 /; /• a h a ni L i ii col 11 

Lincoln. We fretiueiitly marvel at the peculiar and fortuitous 
circumstances by which the careers of men are hedged about. 
But who can explain on any other theory than the guidance of 
a providential hand the fact that l)oth Jeflerson Davis and 
Ahraham Lincoln, rival leaders in the great Civil War, were 
bom under Kentucky's sun, and were nestled to the bosom of 
two of her noble women? 

I shall not attempt in this brief address to lefer, except inci- 
dentally, to the statesmanship or to the achievements of Lin- 
coln in public life, because, after all, these are not the things 
that giip our hearts; these are not the things that cause us to 
shed a tear to-day over the grave of Abraham Lincoln. I pre- 
fer, on this occasion, to let my mind run back to the little humble 
cabin in Kentucky, where Lincoln, in 1809, first looked upon 
a world of wonders. I prefer to think of him "cooning" a 
log across Knob Creek at the age of 5 and falling into its waters 
and having to be pulled out by a companion just in time to 
prevent him from drowning. I prefer to think of him at the 
age of 7, holding to his mother's hand, as he and she per- 
formed their last duty before leaving Kentucky by visiting the 
little grave of the baby boy who was born and died in those 
lonelv hills, from which, so far as I am aware, he was never 
removed. I prefer to think of Lincoln to-day reading the Holy 
Scriptures to his mother night after night as she lay upon her 
deathbed in tliat lonely home in Indiana. 

I prefer to think of him as he wrote liis first letter, at the age 
of 10 or II, asking an old Kentucky preacher, whom he had 
known before his removal to Indiana, to come over and preach 
his mother's funeral, a service which could not be performed 
for lack of a minister at the lime of her burial. I prefer to 
think of Lincoln to-day as he wept over the grave of beloved 
Ann Rutledge, his heart bleeding as no other heart could bleed, 
and exclaiming as he fell upon the new-made mound: "Here 
lies the body of Ann Rutledge and the heart of AnK Lincoln." 

These are the things that endear Lincol.n to us and to our 
memory, because these are the things that twucli our sympathy; 
these are the incidents which appeal to us most strongly in the 
early life of him whose whole career comprises the greatest 



84 



Homestead of Abraham Lincoln 

individual tragedy which has been enacted upon the stage of 
American national life. These touch the tender chords and the 
wellsprings of the human heart, and we forget the Gettysburg 
speech and the second inaugural address and the Douglas de- 
bates. We forget his struggle with his Cabinet and with the 
tremendous problems with which he was surrounded and con- 
fronted. All these things for the day are put aside, and we 
remember the lonely, tragic boyhood of this wonderful man 
and faintly realize the moral foundation, formed as he passed 
through these crucibles of the human heart, which enabled him 
to give expression in the heat of a great political campaign to 
the sublime sentiment, " I am not bound to win, but I am bound 
to be right," a sentiment whose meaning ought to be applied 
with double force in the perilous times in which we live both to 
public problems and to public men. 

As we think of this great character, coming as he did from 
Kentucky, we remember with great pride that in his veins was 
infused the same blood and in his heart the same spirit that 
emboldened Daniel Boone, the Kentucky pioneer, to cut and 
fight his way into a wilderness and help to car\^e out of it one 
of the greatest Commonwealths of this Nation, for Lincoln 
himself was a relative of Daniel Boone, his grandfather having 
been a cousin of the great pioneer. And I am glad to say in 
passing that this rugged courage which guided the life of Lin- 
COLN and of Boone is still to be found among the sons of old 
Kentucky, for we have it typified in the rugged honesty and 
sterling character of our own Speaker of the House, Champ 
Clark, of Missouri, who himself was born and reared in Ken- 
tucky, and also in the leader of the minority, Mr. Mann, who 
although not having been born in that State itself, yet boasts 
that his forbears came from that soil which gave to the Nation 
and to the world Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln. 
[Applause.] 

We have heard many stories of Lincoln, and I confess that 
I never tire of reading or hearing the stories about him. These 
stories which illustrate the humanity of Lincoln are not con- 
fined to his boyhood, nor to his young manhood, but are found 
all through his mature manhood, when the burdens of public 



85 



H u nt c s t c n d of ^^ b r a h a tn I^ i n c o / n 

duties wiTc iK-avicst upon his shoulckrs. The other day I read 
a very pathetic story which touched luy heart, and which illus- 
trates forcibly the truth of the quotation, "He who stoops to 
lift the fallen, dcK*s not stooj) but stands erect." Tliere was a 
schoolhouse somewhere near the back )ard of the White House, 
and as the boys played across the fence, from day to day, Lin- 
coln' fretjuently went out to watch them. One day the teacher 
decided to give the boys a lesson in neatness, and commanded 
tliem that they should have their shoes fresh shined before com- 
ini; to sch(X)l the following day. The next day the boys came to 
school with their faces and hands clean, with clean clothes upon 
themselves, and wiili their shoes all shined. There was one 
little one-armed boy, however, tlie son of a dead soldier who 
had given his life in the Civil War, whose mother made her 
living here in Washington as a washerwoman, who had no 
blacking in the house, and conseciuently he undertook to shine 
his shoes with stove polish. When he reached the school, his 
shoes shined with stove polish, the other pupils began to ridicule 
him, and his little heart was filled with sorrow and humiliation. 
Mr. Lincoln, hearing the gibes at the little one-armed fellow, 
made a detailed inquiry and ascertained the cause of the trouble. 
The ne.xt day Mr. Lincoln took this little boy and bought him 
two new pairs of shoes, two suits of clothes, and bought for his 
sisters new linen and dresses, and sent groceries and clothes to 
the home of his mother. He then put in the boy's hands a note 
to the teacher, in which he asked her to place upon tlie black- 
board the following words: "Inasmuch as ye have done it 
unt(^ one of the least of these, my bretheni, ye have done it 
also mi to Me." A few days later he took occasion to visit the 
schoolhouse in person, and finding the quotation still on the 
board, he asked for a piece of crayon, and going to the board 
he said, "Boys, I have another cjuotation from the Bible in my 
mind thai 1 want to put under this other one, that you may ob- 
serve it and apply it to your future lives." And then he wrote, 
"It is more blessed to give than to receive," and wrote untler 
it his simple signature, "A. Lincoln." 

Mr. Chairman, in the turmoil of our modern-dav politics, in 
the confusion <tf our p(jlilical rivalry, and in the narrowness and 



86 



Homestead of Abraham Lincoln 

bitterness of our partisan fights in Congress, let us to-day re- 
kindle our hope and faith in the destiny of that Nation to which 
Lincoln gave his life and let us hope that in the years that are 
to come we and our children and our children's children for a 
thousand generations may more and more appreciate the sim- 
plicity and sublimity of Lincoln's character, to the end that we 
may contribute to the consummation of that spirit of public 
devotion and common well-being which will enable us to say 
with him, "I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be 
right." [Applause.] 

The State of Kentucky is glad to give to the Nation this hum- 
ble, yet sacred little farm, whose one great product is to-day 
the admiration of the ivorld, and when future generations shall 
view this little home, this log cabin in the hills of Kentucky, 
may they be inspired with the hope that the flag which hangs 
above your head, for which Lincoln, as well as countless others 
before and after him, gave all that they had — their lives — and 
the Union for which it stands, may always mean what he 
thought it ought to mean, the equality of man before the law, 
and the equality to pursue the legitimate objects of happiness 
and of service without regard to clime or creed or section. 
[Applause.] 

As the Nation will this day accept the gift of the Lincoln 
farm, may we not hope that at a day not long postponed a 
similar acceptance may be registered of the Davis home, and 
that these two spots, not far from each other in the soil of 
Kentucky, may be enshrined in the love and imagination of 
patriots everywhere, typifying the reunion of heart and hope 
and hand through which our common country shall more and 
more become the land of opportunity and the beacon light of 
liberty for us and all who shall follow us, which shall become 
brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. [iVpplause.j 



87 



REMARKS BY MR. RAINEY, OF ILLINOIS 

Mr. Chairman, 52 years ago the campaign for the reelection of 
Abraham Lincoln was opening. The real issues were sur- 
prisingly similar to the issues of to-day. The same arguments 
were being used for and against the reelection of Lincoln as are 
being used to-day and will be used throughout the campaign 
which is opening for and against the reelection of President 
Wilson. 

LINCOLN STRONGLY OPPOSED BY PROMINENT LEADERS IN HIS 
OWN PARTY, BUT HIS STRENGTH WAS WITH THE PEOPLE. 

On page 183 of the very excellent work of A. K. McClure, 
Our Presidents: How We Make Them, Dr. McClure calls atten- 
tion to the fact that prominent leaders of Lincoln's own party 
were bitterly opposed to Lincoln and were opposed even to 
accepting him as a candidate. Chase, Wade, Henry Winter 
Davis, and Horace Greeley were among those who did not think 
Lincoln would make the best candidate. Sumner was not 
heartily for him. Stevens was earnestly opposed to him "be- 
cause he had not pressed confiscation and other punishments 
against the South, and the extreme radical wing of the Repub- 
lican Party was aggressive in its hostility. Lincoln's strength 
was with the people, and they overwhelmed the leaders who 
sought his overthrow." 

There are, however, few, if any, men prominent in Democratic 
councils who are opposing the candidacy of ]\Ir. Wilson; but the 
real strength of the President is with the people. 

In his Twenty Years of Congress, volume 1 , page 530, James G. 
Blaine, commenting upon the presidential elections of 1 864, calls 
attention to the fact that it seemed that Lincoln would be de- 
feated. President Lincoln thought so himself, but the crisis 
through which the country was passing soon brought an end to 
mere political controversies. 

Mere political feeling largely subsided and the people were actuated by a 
higher sense of public duty. 



H tfi c s t c a (I f A h r a h a m Li }i co I u 

ill I his coniieciion Mr. Blaine also says: 

The argument for Mr. Lincoln's reelection addressed itself with irresistible 
force to the patriotic sentiment ;md sober judgment of the countr>'. 

The Nation is passing through a crisis now in its history as 
great as tlie crisis which confronted the cotuitry (hiring the cam- 
l^aign of Lincoln for reelection in 1864. Fortunately under one 
flag, the 48 great States of this Union stand united against the 
international perils which confront us. Alone among the great 
nations of the earth, we must accept the task of keeping brightly 
burning upon the seas, as well as on the continents, the lights of 
civilization. We can not shrink within our national boundaries 
and avoid the duties imposed upon us in this great crisis of the 
world's history. We can not permit the nations of the earth to 
sink back into the darkness of the medieval night. We confront 
a world in arms. Under the wise guidance of President Wilson 
we have so far been able to uphold the standards of civilization 
and escape participation in the present strng^jle. It is not wise 
to adoi)t any other leadership. 

DISAPPOINTED OKFICIv SEEKERS IN 1864 .\ND I.MP.\TIENCIv WITH 
MR. LINCOLN'S CONSERVATIVE METHODS. 

The disappointments among those who had not succeeded in 
their ambition to secure appointive positions were more marked 
during Lincoln's second campaign than now. The Republican 
Party was absolutely new in national politics. Thousands of 
men who had been interested in its prior campaigns and who had 
fought hard for the things the party stood for had not been able 
to obtain the appointments they desired. Lincoln had at his 
disposal more appointive positions than President Wilson has 
had at his disposal. There was no ci\ il service in those days and 
the appointments were both civil and military. 

James G. Blaine, on page 514 of volume i of his Twenty Years 
of Congress, calls attention to this situation: 

A p:ui. of the liostility \v;is due to a sincere thniij,'h mistaken imi)alience 
with Mr. Lincoln's slow and conservative methods and a part was due to 
]xjlitical resentments and ambitions. The more radical clement of the 
I)arty wiis not ctmtent witli the President's cautious and moderate jxilic)', 
but insisted that he should jmKeed to extreme measures or give way to some 
Ixildt r leader who would meet these demands. Other individuals had been 



90 



Homestead o f A h r ah am Lincoln 

aggrieved by personal disappointments, and the spirit of faction could not be 
altogether extinguished even amid the agonies of war. There were civil as 
well as military offices to be filled, lind the selection among candidates put 
forward in various interests could not be made without leaving a sense of dis- 
comfiture in many breasts. 

PRESIDENT LINCOLN IN THE GREAT CRISIS WHICH CONFRONTED 
THE NATION FREQUENTLY CHANGED HIS MIND 

President Wilson is charged with changing his position on 
important economic questions. In this present period of rapid 
kaleidoscoi)ic changes in world affairs men who stand still will 
soon find themselves standing alone. The charges of changing 
his mind and of vacillation urged with such insistence against 
President Wilson at the present time were urged with equal 
insistence and vigor against President Lincoln during the cam- 
paign of 1864, and in order to meet the arguments along this 
line it was necessary, in the month of October, 1864, to bring 
back from the front a popular military hero to deliver an ad- 
dress, which was at once widely circulated, on this very subject- 
The meeting was advertised for the 9th day of October, 1864, 
and on that day one of the greatest mass meetings of the cam- 
paign assembled in the city of Brooklyn. The military hero 
who was brought back from the front to address this great 
meeting was Maj. Gen. Carl Schurz. President Lincoln had 
already made an answer to the charge of changing his policies. 
After reviewing the policies and the particulars upon which 
President Lincoln had changed his position, with great force 
and effect, Gen. Schurz, in his speech on that occasion, quoted 
from Lincoln as follows: "I am not controlling events, but 
events are controlling me." The speech was printed in the 
New York papers of October 10, 1864, and was widely copied 
throughout the country. People saw at once the force of Lin- 
coln's position, and so at the present time, in the great crisis 
which confronts us amidst changing world conditions, when our 
industries are reaching out for a world trade they never had 
before, and when the charge of vacillation and changing his 
mind is made against the President of the United States, w^e 
can reply, as Lincoln replied over a half century ago, the 
President is not controlling events; events are controlling him. 



91 



Homestead o f A b r a h a m Lincoln 

THKV CALLED LLNCULN NAMES AND ABLSKD HLM 

At the present time vile, scandalous terms are being used by 
critics of President Wilson and his policies in the magazines 
and newspapers of the land. These terms are being used by 
writers from the caliber of Owen Wister, with his mastery of 
Knglish, down to the most insignificant penny-a-liner who 
>vrites for metropolitan papers in great cities, but they have 
not been able to invent as many opprobrious words as were used 
bv the critics of Lincoln in 1S64. The New York Daily Tribune 
of Tuesday, September 6, 1864, assembles some of the names 
used by the opponents of Lincoln in and out of his party in the 
campaign of 1864. According to the Tribune these are some of 
the names applied to Lincoln during that campaign: "Filthy 
stor>-teller," "despot," "big secessionist," "liar," "thief," 
"braggart," "bufifoon," "usurper," "monster," "Ignoramus 
Abe," "old scoundrel," "perjurer," "robber," "s\%-indler," "ty- 
rant," "fiend," "butcher," "land pirate," and other pleasant 
epithets. 

The article in the Tribune assembling these terms concludes 
as follows: 

The vocabulary' of billingsgate is limited and their amnumition of abuse 
may be exhausted before the day of battle. 

So may we not hope in this campaign that the vocabulary 
of billingsgate, in which so many of the President's opponents 
are apparently so splendidly skilled, and their ammimition of 
abuse may be exhausted before the day of battle? But whether 
it is or not it will have no effect on the final result. 

NOT BEST TO SWAP HORSES WHILE CROSSING STRE.\.MS 

This was the argument which prevailed in Lincoln's second 
campaign, and in the strangely similar campaign which opens 
now before us this appeals most strongly to men of all parties. 
The phrase is not a new one. It has been used in American 
politics from 1864 to the present time. Its origin, however, 
has become obscured. It may be interesting at the present 
time in this connection to call attention to the origin of this 



9a 



Homestead of Abraham Lincoln 

expression which had such tremendous effect in tlie campaign 
of 1864. 

The Republican convention closed its sittings at Baltimore 
on the 9th day of June, 1864. On the next day a committee 
selected by it assembled in the East Room of the White House 
and Gov. Dennison, who had been president of the convention 
and who was chairman of the committee, addressed the Presi- 
dent officially, conveying to him the information as to the 
action of the convention. President Lincoln replied, accepting 
the nomination conferred upon him and approving the platform 
declarations. This meeting in the East Room of the White 
House, however, attracted not the slightest attention in the 
campaign which followed; but on the afternoon of that day a 
number of the members of the National Union League infor- 
mally called on the President at the White House to congratu- 
late him upon his renomination. In the entirely extemporane- 
ous address made by Lincoln on this occasion he was at his 
best, and it was in this address that he sounded the keynote of 
the campaign which followed. After expressing his thanks for 
the personal compliments paid to him on that day he assured 
his callers that the only compliment he was entitled to appro- 
priate was the one expressed to the effect that he might hope 
that— 

I am not entirely unworthy to be intrusted with the place I have occu- 
pied for the last three years. I have not permitted myself, gentlemen, 
to conclude that I am the best man in the cotmtry, but I am reminded 
on this occasion of the story of an old Dutch farmer who remarked to a 
companion once that " it is not best to swap horses when crossing streams. " 

The story was new in national politics. It was greeted with 
tumultuous applause and laughter when Lincoln related it in 
the White House on the afternoon following the adjournment 
of the Baltimore convention. It was reported the next day in 
the New York Daily Tribune and was copied throughout the 
country. It found a place in the campaign literature and on 
the campaign banners used in 1864. During the present cam- 
paign which so strangely parallels the second Lincoln campaign 
it can appropriately be used again. 



93 



Homestead o f A h r a h a m Lincoln 

On the iii^lit t)f June 9, at a gnat meeting at the Cooper 
Union Institute in New York City, the l^ev. Dr. Ihuklinglon, of 
New York, in his eU)quent address caught the spirit of the ap- 
proaching campaign and alluded to Mr. Lincoln as tho man 
"who was and is leailing the people as Moses led the children of 
Israel through the Red Sea," and lliis ])]irase, along with the 
homely story of Lincoln, became popular throughout the cam- 
paign which followed. The story tokl by Lincoln had its effect 
again wlien one week later the great hall of the Cooper Insti- 
tute in New York was again crowded at the ratification meet- 
ing of the Central Union Lincoln Campaign Club, of New York. 
On the platform were Peter Cooper, Theodore Tilton, and others, 
but the greatest enthusiasm was provoked by the speech of 
Hon. Charles vS. vSpenccr, the president of the club, when he said: 

We have no di&ippointing ambition, no personal revenge to gratify. 
As llic President has stood by the coiintrj' in the hour of trial, so stiuid we 
by the President. 

I can think of no better expression than this with which to 
depict the sentiment which ought to prevail and will prevail in 
the campaign which opens now for the reelection of President 
Wilson, 52 years after the speech of Mr. Spencer was delivered. 

The New York Daily Tribune of Wednesday, September 14, 
1864, calls attention to the appeal for the reelection of Lincoln 
sent out by the national union committee from its headquarters 
in New York City. The appeal went out on the 9th day of 
September, 1864. It was a stirring appeal for the reelection of 
Lincoln. It was in harmony with the sentiment which domi- 
nated the campaign. That part which ajipealed most strongly 
to the country, and which those who favor the reelection of 
President Wilson can appropriate at the present time, read as 
follows : 

We call upon you to stand by the President, who under circumstances 
of unparalkd difl'iculty has wielded the power of tlie Nation with unfaltering 
courage and fidelity, with integrity which even calumny luis not dared to 
impeach and with wisdom and i)rudencc upon which success is even now 
stamping the surest and the fmal seal. 



94 



Homestead o f A h r ah am Lincoln 

In Edward Stanton's History of the Presidency, on page 299, 
referring to Mr. Lincoln's reelection, he calls attention to Lin- 
coln's story, which he does not quite correctly quote, and says: 

Mr. Lincoln neither obtrusively urged himself as a candidate for re- 
election nor made any coy professions of unwillingness to be chosen again. 
He was simply and frankly a candidate. He believed that it was best for 
the coimtry , under the circumstances, that he should be continued in office. 
It was not good policy "to swap horses while crossing a stream. " 

IMPORTANT ISSUES OF I.864 AND I916 Tllli SAME. 

No matter how much we may differ on the question of the 
tariff and on other economic subjects, we must all agree that the 
crisis through which we are passing as a Nation at the present 
time is as important in its consequences as the crisis of 1864. 
The same questions of soul-stirring patriotism appear again, and, 
strangely, the same methods used against Lincoln in the cam- 
paign of 1864 are being used now by the enemies in all parties 
of President Wilson. May we not hope that the shafts of envy 
and malice aimed now against President Wilson will fall as 
harmlessly to the ground as they did in the second Lincoln 
campaign? It was not best 52 years ago, it is not best now " to 
swap horses while crossing streams." 



38796°— 16 7 95 



REMARKS BY MR. MADDEN, OF ILLINOIS 

Mr. Speaker, in a log cabin on the banks of the Sangamon 
River, a small stream emptying into the Illinois River, there 
lived about 83 years ago a long, lank, homely, sad-eyed rail 
splitter, unknown save only to his parents and a few scattering 
neighbors, who, like himself, were eking out by the hardest 
kind of labor a mere existence in a then wild and unpromising 
section of this the home of the free and the land of the brave. 
He was not employed by the hour, day, week, month, or year, 
nor did he receive a daily wage as compensation for his labor. 
He worked from sunup to sundown, and when he had piled up 
400 rails he received from a poor widow in exchange therefor 
enough homespun cloth to make him or his father a pair of 
trousers. 

He was a Kentuckian by birth, and moved, when a young 
man, with a worthless father, a carpenter by trade, to the State 
of Indiana, and after sojourning there for a short time came on 
to Illinois, where they built a log cabin on a bluff near the 
River Sangamon, when the young man soon became famous, 
not only as the champion rail splitter of his county, but also for 
his ability to dispatch hogs with lightninglike rapidity, and for 
which service he received the munificent sum of 30 cents per 
day. 

His rail-splitting and hog-killing proclivities did not constitute 
all of the qualifications which this young man possessed and 
which made him the envy of his many rural competitors. He 
could run faster, jump farther, strike harder, and could throw 
down with great ease any man bold enough to question his 
physical superiority; and, although at this time his mental 
strength did not keep pace wdth his physical greatness, he could 
read, write, and cipher, and, above all, he could be relied upon 
and was absolutely honest, a characteristic which, like the 
rugged mountain peak, rises majestically above the clouds. 



97 



Homestead o f A h r a h a m Lincoln 

Youn); Lincoln gave up llic rail-splitting industry to engage 
in the grocery business; hut having an inboni dislike for busi- 
ness precision and indoor confinement he speedily abandoned 
that avocation to engage in the more agreeable pastime of fight- 
ing Indians. He had himself elected captain of a military com- 
p;iny in 1832 anfl proceeded to put his company in condition to 
end the Black Hawk War forthwith; and, although it is not 
recorded that he ever saw an Indian during that engagement, it 
is a matter of record that his failure to meet the enemy was no 
fault of his. 

Having political ambition and being popular with his neigh- 
bors, who for the most part were a sorry lot of very poor people, 
he, in 1833, by such methods as are perfectly familiar to those 
who are in politics and in the same way now employed — we 
have not improved much upon Lincoln's manner of doing poli- 
tics — ingratiated himself into the good graces of his Congress- 
man and was appointed postmaster, in which position he famil- 
iarized himself with current happenings by reading to his pa- 
trons newspapers, postal cards, and other publications which 
came into his official hands for distribution and delivery. His 
office, as can well be imagined, was a meeting place for all sorts 
of quaint characters, who came in crowds to listen with admira- 
tion to the witty and wise sayings of their foremost fellow citi- 
zen. The official duties of this governmental dignitary were not 
arduous — in fact, it is said that he carried the mail in his hat, 
and when transporting even his heaviest mail in this way there 
was ample room for a head destined in the near future to fur- 
nish intelligence enough to rule with matchless splendor and 
success the greatest nation on the face of the earth. 

Lincoln at this time had, of course, no intimation of his ulti- 
mate greatness, and it is doubtful if he had ever dreamed of 
representing in an official capacity a greater number of his 
fellow citizens than were then residing in the little village over 
which he presided with great dignity as postmaster. The genns 
of greatness were in him, however, and were being slowly 
developed by Almighty God to fit him, when the emergency 
should come, to grapple with and master the greatest and most 
complicated national problem that has ever fallen to the lot 



98 



H '.:::: a d 'jf Abraham Lincoln 

of man to s: ."^ Trrc . be was aiiih i tious , and wisely srrriii^' liii: 
his — -.-'v iris native irit had given to \trm a place 

.Ti^ his feOoir towr 
nld seek stin liig^ L 
having natnral inriinafioa to orate 
~ ^ !^:gjda t aiem 1832 and took 
-bis ^yfwfaen vexe calcn- 
tated more to amoae t:-- bat with a persistency char- 

;: ^ : faHwesteiB' ' tion, attf ' •ering the 

ir "Whese ir ^8, 'tis ^ -rr^? " 

1 told t t-s aH £ 



~^if --I50::C3r. 



he west to 



eaah- 



EEtber 



Homestead o f A b r a h a m L.i ii c o I n 

in six weeks. About this lime the sun began to shine through 
the dark clouds of despair which had hung over him, and 
Lincoln grew more optimistic — he never was a pessimist, but 
always seemed sad. He purchased a decent suit of clothes, the 
first he had ever had, made tlie actjuaintance of prominent men, 
and profited by their acquaintance. 

In 1834 the people of the State of Illinois elected a new legis- 
lature, and Lincoln was one of the successful candidates. The 
vState capital was then located at Vandalia, and Lincoln was 
prominent in having enacted into law a bill removing it to 
Springfield. Aside from this bit of wise legislation nothing was 
done in which he played a prominent part calculated to create 
an impression that he was soon to become in fame second only 
to Washington, but in the succeeding legislature, to which he 
also was elected, he and his colleague, Daniel Stone, the two 
members from Sangamon County, introduced the famous reso- 
lution declaring that the institution of slavery "was founded on 
both injustice and bad policy." 

In 1837 Lincoln was admitted to the bar and moved to 
Springfield, a village of some 1,500 people. In 1838, at the age 
of 29, he was again elected to the legislature, where he continued 
assiduously, by wise legislation, to better the condition of the 
people. He found time to carry on the practice of law and was 
reputed to be a good lawyer, although his ser\dces as such, 
being respectable, was not great. 

Lincoln was a bom politician. His heart was in the work, 
and it was in this prolific field that his great achievements were 
accomplished. He did not like the technicalities of the law, but 
rather preferred to make political speeches, in which particular 
occupation his genius shone with great brilliancy. 

In 1840, during the Harrison presidential campaign, Lincoln 
stumped the State in behalf of the Whig cause, and it was dur- 
ing this canvass that he came in contact with the great scholar 
and political debater, Stephen A. Douglas. 

In 1843 Mr. Lincoln was defeated for Congress, to which high 
position he had long aspired. He was more successful in 1846, 
however, when he received a majority of the votes cast in the 
congressional contest and was elected to a seat in the National 



Homestead of Abraham Lincoln 

House of Representatives. As a Congressman Lincoln's record 
was but fair. He made some three or four speeches, devoted 
more to wit and humor than sound reasoning, although ques- 
tions of great moment were during those days demanding the 
attention of leading statesmen. 

Many biographers have given too much time and attention to 
Lincoln's domestic life, which was all but pleasant, as is well 
known to everybody. It is the public ser\'ices of great men 
rather than their private affairs that receive and merit the at- 
tention of the public, and this incomparable man's public life is 
so filled with brilliant achievements that to deviate therefrom 
would avail nothing intellectual and would be doing that which, 
to say the least, would be unwise. 

As I have said before, Lincoln's ability as a lawyer did not 
shine with any particular brilliancy. He did not become famous 
through his practice of the law, as a State representative, or as 
a Congressman, Neither could he compare in eloquence with 
Douglas, Clay, Webster, or Calhoun as a public speaker. It 
was his matchless moral character, the prominent part he 
played in a great cause, and his mar\-elous leadership that will 
cause his name to be honored and revered throughout the ages. 

His great political career really began in 1854, notwithstand- 
ing he had ser\'ed two years in Congress, 1 847-1 849. 

It was the attempt of southern statesmen to compel Congress 
to extend slavery in the Territories that aroused the great in- 
dignation of Lincoln and which, indirectly, made him the leader 
of the opposition to the movement to establish slavery in terri- 
tory belonging to the United States, an institution declared by 
him to be "founded on both injustice and bad policy." 

Henry Clay's great compromise bill succeeded in quieting for 
a time the bitterness that was engendered by this inhuman 
attempt. It was but the calm that precedes a storm, however, 
and was short lived. An attempt to pass the fugitive-slave 
law was regarded as a national outrage by northern men, and 
the protest that was registered when man hunters seized trem- 
bling fugitives and took them back to a life infinitely worse than 
death was of a nature to cause public men to tremble. The 
whole North became alive with righteous indignation at this 



Homestead o f A h r a h a m I^i n c o I n 

barbarous aiul unsix-akablc act of iuhuinaiiity. Newspapers 
protested, orators thuiulered, excitement exceeded all bounds. 
More fuel to the llanics was added about this time by Stephen 
A. Douglas, a United States Senator from the State of Illinois, 
by the introduction of his famous Kansas- Nebraska bill, the 
purpose of which was to open up the vast territory of Kansas 
and Nebraska to the introduction of slavery, providing that the 
jx'ople of these Territories should so favor. The South needed 
this territory, and Douglas, who had presidential aspirations, 
was playing into their hands. 

The attempt to put the bill on the statute book opened the 
eyes even of some Democratic leaders of the North, and a united 
outcry of protestation from the press, the platfonn, and the 
I)ulpit was raised in one great scream of wrath, which no doubt 
could be distinctly heard south of Mason and Dixon's line. 

It will not be necessary for me to recount the many crimes 
committed in the Territory of Kansas by armed rufBans from 
Missouri, who elected by fraud a legislature favorable to slav- 
ery in that Territory. Nor will it be necessary for me to dis- 
cuss the decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. 
Vou are all familiar with these matters. Suffice it to say that 
these triumphs were exceedingly pleasing to the southern cause, 
and that the question now was, Shall slavery advance into new 
territory? The North said "no," the South said "yes." 

At this stage of the contest Lincoln came upon the scene and 
his career as a national character began. He crossed swords 
with Douglas, reinited to be the most powerful advocate of 
Democratic principles in the North. They were both candidates 
for the United States Senate — Lincoln the Republican candi- 
date and Douglas the Democratic nominee. The debates which 
took place between these two giants became world famous. 
Lincoln, filled with indignation at the wrongs that had been 
perpetrated upon humanity, seemed to be inspired as he com- 
bated the arguments of the trained political debater Douglas, 
His battle cry was, "The Government can not endure half slave 
and half free," and that "a liouse divided against itself could not 
stand." lie did not go beyond the constitutional limits, how- 
ever, but admitted that the South had a right to a fugitive-slave 



Homestead of Abraham Lincoln 

law, but he never missed an opportunity to let it be known that 
he despised the institution of slavery. His speeches during this 
contest attracted such universal attention that he was invited 
to speak in Eastern States, which he did in such splendid style 
as to add increased glory to his fame as an orator. 

Following his contest with Douglas, which attracted so much 
attention throughout the civilized world, the people of the North 
demanded the nomination of Lincoln as President. The Re- 
publican Party heeded the call, and in i860 made liim its 
standard bearer. After the election, which waged furiously in 
all sections of the country, Lincoln was elected. The North 
had triumphed over the South. Cannons roared, bells were 
rung, brave men cried with joy, and the prayers of the oppressed 
ascended to high heaven. Great was the victory and great was 
Lincoln. 

The South immediately set up the cry that the election was 
a "sectional and minority election," and between election day 
and the date when Lincoln was to be sworn into office several 
of the Southern States seceded from the Union and set up a 
government of their own at Montgomery, Ala. They seized 
Federal forts, arsenals, customhouses, post offices, and every- 
thing else they could appropriate which would aid them in a war 
v/hich was sure to follow. 

On the 4th of March, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was inaugu- 
rated President of the United States. How I should love to 
have seen that ceremony and listened to the words of wisdom 
as they fell from his lips during his inaugural address. What 
a privilege it must have been to look into his sad and pensive 
face as he counseled his countrymen to remain cool during the 
pending crisis. His whole address was summed up in two short 
paragraphs : 

The power confided in me ■will be used to hold, occup3% and possess 
the property and places belonging to the Government and to collect 
the duties and imports, but beyond what may be necessary for these 
objects there will be no invasion, no use of force, among the people 
an^-^here. 

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow coimtr>-men, and not in mine, 
is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail 
you. You can have no conflict without being yourself aggressors. 



103 



Homestead o f A h r a h a m hi u c o J n 

The South became the a^.ijrcssors and inevitable war fol- 
lowed. The trials and tribulations of the great Lincoln were 
many during these dark and uncertain days; but out of his 
tribulations came patience, and out of patience came experi- 
ence, and out of experience came hope, according to the Scrip- 
tures. His love for man seemed to grow in the very face of the 
fiercest war that has ever been waged. A war between father 
and son, brother and brother — a horrible, unthinkable war. 
Lincoln well knew, however, that the end justified the means, 
and realized that out of the awful slaughter of men and loss 
of treasure would come a reunited country and lasting peace; 
and, far more important than either reunion or peace, he knew 
that the shackles which bound in servitude a race of people 
woukl fall from bruised limbs and 4,000,000 souls would march 
erect into the bright sunlight of sweet freedom. Thank God, 
the great emancipator lived long enough to witness this, his 
crowning achievement. 

Some writers hold that Lincoln's death was timely, in that 
it prevented a possible political error during the reconstruction 
period which might have sullied in some degree his illustrious 
services. I do not believe it, and I am sorry he did not live to 
know that even the most radical of southern sympathizers now 
rejoice in the delivery from bondage of a race of human beings 
into the glorious realm of liberty; and I am persuaded that had 
the fatal bullet never been fired from the pistol of the assassin. 
Booth, no public act of his, had he lived to this good day, would 
have resulted in anything but good to his fellow man. His 
great foresight and his inborn love for justice would have pre- 
cluded such a result. The present universal admiration for his 
matchless services frowns upon the very intimation of such a 
thing. He was too great, too sympathetic, too far-seeing, too 
wise, and too just to enter into any arrangement whereby any- 
thing but the full measure of justice would result to all. 

Commemoration of the Nation's heroes is not only proper, 
but it is wise. It fosters patriotism, without which no country 
can be great. 

Lincoln's life was one of purest patriotism; it was devoted 
unselfishly to the promotion of the country's good. He was 
till- friend of mankind; he believed in manhood; In* wanted too 



104 



Homestead o f Ah r ah am Lincoln 

see this a land of freedom in fact as well as in name. He 
worked to that end. He assumed a great burden when he took 
the Presidency; he met the responsibilities with courage and 
a heart full of charity, but he met them and overcame every 
difficulty; he conquered the foes of free government and made 
this a Government of manhood suffrage. 

When this Government was formed it was the most gigantic 
experiment of the kind ever attempted by man ; it was given no 
place in the political considerations of the world ; it was thought 
to be but a passing illusion. No one believed the experiment 
would succeed; failure was freely predicted. A government 
by the people, it was said, was impossible. But Washington's 
Government still lives. It has grown and prospered. It has 
become a great world power. It thrills with potent life and 
exalted hopes. The Civil War was the one test needed to prove 
the ability of the people to govern themselves, and never was 
the Nation so full of life, so filled with courage, so encouraging to 
the friends of freedom, so menacing to the foes of the Republic 
as when the sun of Appomattox shone upon its banner and 
revealed within its azure ground the full galaxy of its stars. 

Through the instrumentality of the martyred Lincoln and 
his patriotic followers were fought the battles for the preserva- 
tion of the Union, and we of the present day are enabled to 
live in a land where every citizen is a sovereign and every man, 
woman, and child is free to worship God according to the 
dictates of his own conscience; a land whose inventions lead 
the world, where the printing press and the church follow close 
upon the march of empire, where caste is ignored, where the 
humblest child of poverty may aspire, unrebuked, to the highest 
place in the gift of the Nation. 

It is fitting that the birthplace of this great man should be 
preserved as an evidence that lowly birth is no handicap to 
greatness. It should be preserved as an example to the youth 
of the land and as an encouragement to emulate the life of 
Lincoln and to keep constantly before the minds of the people 
that, great though Lincoln was in his maturity, after all 
if he had not been bom there could have been no such history 
as is recorded through his life, his sacrifices, and his patriotic 
achievements. 



105 



REMARKS BY MR. HARRISON, OF MISSISSIPPI 

Mr. Chairman, in the consideration and discussion of this bill, 
proposing that the Government of the United vStatcs take over 
and preser\'e the home in Kentucky in which Abraham Lincoln 
was born, it is not inappropriate that I place in the Record a 
letter that I received in my mail only a few moments ago from 
as gallant an array of men and women as ever lived. 

Not far from the home in which the martyred Lincoln was 
born Jefferson Davis was born. 

Like Lincoln, his life was spent in another State — and ser\'icc 
extended beyond any section. Beauvoir, on the shores of the 
Mississippi Sound, was the last home of Mr. Davis. For the last 
decade that beautiful place has been transformed into a home 
for Confederate veterans. About 250 of these gallant old sol- 
diers, although true to the cause which in the sixties they 
espoused, to-day are as true to the Union and as loyal to that 
flag as are the men who in the sixties enlisted in the Federal 
Armies. The letter, Mr. Chairman, that I ask unanimous consent 
to place in the Record has come to me from these old patriots, 
tendering their ser\dces to the President to go into Mexico as a 
part of the Armies of this Government, if necessary. 



107 



Homestead of ^i b r a h a m l^i n col n 

Tiiii Jkvfekson Davis liUAivoiR Soldiers' Home, 

Gulf port. Miss., March 2j, igi6. 
Mr. Pat Harrison, M. C. 

Dear Sir: Wo the undersigned Confederate veterans of Beauvoir Sol- 
diers' Home tender our services to the President, if needed, to join the 
..\rmy for Mexico. 

J. C. Gninigan, Dan. Robertson, J. C. Calhoun, A. Adair, J. S. BrowTi. 
R. I. Lanius, J. C. Summers, S. O. Freeman, J. T. Farr, A. R. A. 
Hiuris, J. V. Mercer, W. D. Cooke, A. S. Furr, J. L. Thomasson. 
G. F. Jones, \V. W. Gibson, Sam. l\. Jones, C. W. Agnew, J. \V. 
Patterson, S. H. Powell, T. J. N. Bloodworth, H. M. Wilson, 
C. M. Walker, J. C. Bridewell, W. M. Collins, R. C. Chuk, R. C. 
Lc Cloud, A. P. Sp;u-ks, W. R. Jonston, Capt. W. A. Dill. W. F. 
Gaincy, J. C. Ainsworth, K. A. Johnson, Jas. A. Locke, G. W. 
Bams, F. M. vSharp, J. W. Hunter, R. B. Johnson. Chas. Talia- 
ferro. Thom. D. Reed, W. E. Lusc, J. C. McKenzio, J. H. Allen, 
J. H. Jennings. W. J. Ray, A. G. Wood, W. S. Hickingbottom, 
J. G. Worshani, J. H. Harcll, B. C. Covington, P. R. S. Baily, 
I. B. Baldridgc, J. McDonald, R. N. Robinson. P. A. Cook, Mrs. 
P. B. Kine, T. J. Buckley, S. H. Box, O. R. Mallette, John 
Noble, R. H. Porter, O. S. Beck, W. D. Franks. James Everett, 
J. A. Lott, B. F. Sadler, Dennis Kane, James A. Cuevas, S. W. 
Brister, W. J. Pittman, G. F. Allin, C. S. Smith, W. J. Long, 
C. A. Binet, W. W. Robeson. C. A. Brcard, T. W\ Hughes. G. W. 
Hill, W. H. vStcvens. E. C. Robinson, W. M. Marshall, E. P. 
Hitt, A. H. House. Georg W. Christe, J. T. Gibson, J. H. 
Thom, T. J. Harrell, S. J. Lane, J. W. Dyers. W. A. Wood, I. N. 
Webb, C. C. Nelson, A. J. Eastling, A. J. Duren, J. D. Gmbbs, 
W. T. Hester, Sol Happs, J. A. J. Cagle, Thomas E. Wright, 
G. J. Wiird. Total, loo, and many others. 
If we are old, we are good guns yet. 

Yours, respectfully, J. C. G. 



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